


More Than A Game

by throughthewitchesglass (dizzyapple95)



Series: Harry Potter and the Next Generation [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-04-15 13:59:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 34,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4609380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzyapple95/pseuds/throughthewitchesglass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Adventure continues into James Sirius Potter's second year. The challenges of last year a constant reminder of who he is and who he is expected to be. As the pressure mounts, can he handle it?</p><p>Sequel to Beginnings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On the Hogwarts Express

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the next part of my Harry Potter and the Next Generation series. This piece follows on from Beginnings. While it is necessary to read Beginnings first, I would recommend it as it will give you the introduction to so many of the characters that you are about to encounter.
> 
> All mistakes and anything you do not recognize from the world of Harry Potter, is mine. I guess that is both a good and bad thing :) xx
> 
> Enjoy xx

Serena stopped occasionally to peer through the glass into the different compartments on the train as the Hogwarts Express rattled its way out of Kings Cross Station on the journey that would take her back home. Clutched in one hand was Spud in his cage who kept hooting at people as she passed. Spud was, in contrast to herself, a very friendly owl who always wanted some attention. But right now she didn’t want the attention of the random students she passed. She wanted to find the compartment in which she knew she would find James, Dominique and Nate. She knew that as the newly elected Head-Boy and 5th Year Ravenclaw prefect, neither Teddy nor Victoire would be there but she was looking forward to seeing them later on.

She had thoroughly enjoyed the time that she had spent at Victoire and Dominique’s house during the summer. In the end she had ended up staying for an entire week and it had clearly been the best week of her summer. Not only were James and Teddy almost always at Shell Cottage, she got to go to Diagon Alley to get her school supplies and to see Nate.

But right now, she was interested in trying to actually find her friends.

Sighing she finally slid open the compartment door and smiled when she was hit with the laughter from the occupants of the compartment. 

“Serena!”

“Hey! We were wondering where you were?”

Serena moved into the compartment sliding the door shut behind her and placing Spud up onto the luggage rack next to Dominique’s owl, “Mum didn’t want me to come back to Hogwarts – so I only got onto the train just before it left…”

Settling down into a seat next to Dominique smiling warmly.

James rolled his, “Mum wasn’t too pleased that I was going back either…and Lily cried more than I ever thought possible…”

Dominique grinned, “Mum seemed pretty pleased that me and Vic were leaving for Hogwarts…think she likes just having Lou at home…”

Nate rolled his eyes, “That is nothing compared to how Gran was…all of us at Hogwarts? She’s been crying for weeks…”

Serena turned and smiled warmly at the two other occupants in the compartments. Brandon and Felicity Holland. Brandon turned and grinned at her, flashing his pearly white teeth, while Felicity ducked her head to avoid making eye contact with Serena.

“Hi…” Brandon said grinning.

“Hi…you looking forward to your first year?”

“Uhuh…I’m nervous about my sorting though…like I know you just have to put a hat on year head…but it talks…and before you say magic…I know…but how the hell does it talk? That’s some weird freaky magic right there…and classes…like what if I’m useless at absolutely everything? And Quidditch….I know I can’t play this year…but I’m really looking forward to watching some matches…Nate said that you’re all trying out for the team this year…I really hope that I can try out for a team next year and…”

“Brandon!”

Brandon turned to face his brother who had his eyebrows raised.

“You gotta let us answer…and you can breathe at some point you know?”

Brandon stuck his tongue out at his brother while Nate leaned over and ruffled his hair. Dominique looked across at Felicity who had wrapped her arms around herself burying herself in a large jumper.

“What are you looking forward to Felicity?”

Felicity shrugged and said in a voice that was just louder that a whisper, “The sorting I guess…”

Nate raised an eyebrow, “I though you said you were looking forward to me and Spence beating Xan in the Quidditch Cup?”

Felicity shook her head, “No…I said Xander is gonna beat you two again…and then next year I’ll beat you all…”

“Not planning on being a Gryffindor or Slytherin then?”

Felicity shrugged, “I don’t mind either way…but even if I am a Gryffindor or Slytherin everyone will know that I’m a better player than all of you…”

Brandon rolled his and nudged his twin in her side, “Not better than me though…”

“Whatever you say…”

The rest of the journey passed in laughter which only intensified when Teddy and Victoire appeared looking slightly disheveled which led to the many jokes on how Headmaster Williams had thought it possible that the two of them would be the appropriate role models for the students of Hogwarts. Felicity had seemed to settle in a little more, even joining in with the light teasing of Victoire and Teddy.

Eventually, the Hogwarts Express came to a halt in Hogsmeade Station. Felicity fell silent while Brandon began chattering excitedly as they collected the belongings that they themselves would be taking up to the castle while the rest of the belongings would be transported by the house-elves. Unfortunately for the first years, a thunderstorm had rolled in over Hogsmeade. As they stepped out onto the platform, Teddy ambled over and grinned casting a waterproof charm over Brandon and Felicity. Brandon grinned and pulled a surprised Teddy into a grateful hug, while Felicity whispered thank you and ducked her head staring down at the ground.

As Teddy ambled away to help herd the students up towards the carridges, Nate pulled Brandon tight into his side, “Don’t leave Fliss alright? You know how she gets in the dark…not to mention storms….”

“I know Nate…I know…but she’s not a puppy…”

“No…she’s our sister…”

Brandon and Felicity moved off towards Hagrid, grateful for Teddy’s goodwill in providing them with the waterproof charm on their clothes. Meanwhile, James, Nate, Serena and Dominique made their way towards the carriages. The stopped as one pulled forward and James froze in shock. He reached out a hand, jumping when his hand touched the skeletal beast. 

Nate stood next to him staring at the creature whispering, “What are they?”

James whispered, “Thestrals…they’re thestrals…”

Dominique glanced sideways at James, “Thestrals…but you can only see them if you’ve seen someone die…who have you seen die?”

James shrugged, “I…er…haven’t seen anyone…but like…my dad saw lots of people die right?”

Dominique shook her head, “It’s not an inherited skill you know…but Nate…what about you?”

Nate swallowed and whispered, “My…my parents…”

James, Serena and Dominique twisted and stared and Nate in shock who shook his head and climbed into the back of the carriage, which thankfully had a canvas roof pulled across the top. The journey up to the castle was silent if you discounted the loud pounding of the rain upon the canvas roof. 

James, Serena and Dominique shared a concerned look as Nate stared out of the back of the carriage down at the gravel trackway, lost in thought. By the time they reached the point where they had to disembark the carriage the rain had only gotten heavier. They didn’t take the time to fully appreciate they were back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was too wet and rainy for that. So instead they ran from the carriage and up the steps into the entrance hall. James shook his head causing the girls to laugh and Nate to roll his eyes.

Dominique tugged on their arms, “Come on…lets go…the sooner we’re ready, the sooner the sorting will begin and then we can eat…”

“Hungry Dom?”

“Starving…”


	2. Start of Term Feast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos on this work.
> 
> I would like to apologize for my terrible attempt at writing the sorting hat song. Writing poetry has never been a strength of mine but I hope you enjoy the chapter xx

The trio bid farewell to Dominique who left them once she spotted Kayla sat at the Hufflepuff table. Nate, Serena and James made their way down the Gryffindor table until they were about midway down the table before taking their seats. They spotted Spencer sat a little way down the table who offered them all a wave once he saw them.

Serena nudged Nate in the side, “So…which house do you think they’ll be in?”

Nate shrugged, “No idea…absolutely no idea…and if anything, last year proved that you never actually know where you are going to end up…”

James shrugged, “The hat does take your thoughts into consideration though…I mean…my dad was adamant that he wouldn’t be in Slytherin even though that is where the hat initially wanted to put him…”

Nate rolled his eyes, “Your dad – the great Harry Potter – a snake?”

James shrugged, “I know…but eh…the hat is supposedly always right, right?”

Serena looked down towards the hat on top of the stool, “You know – I wonder…do you think the hat ever regrets what house he…she…it has sorted a student into?”

Nate shrugged, “It must do…but then it’s a hat…do hat’s experience emotions such as regret?”

“Hats aren’t supposed to speak either so who the hell knows?”

“But why a hat?”

James rolled his eyes, “Apparently it belonged to Godric Gryffindor and when they decided they needed to sort the students he volunteered his hat and put some charms on it.”

Serena blinked, “That’s how the sorting hat came to be? They are effectively picking a house out of hat…”

James and Nate let out a snort of laughter but before either of them could reply, the students fell silent as the doors to the Great Hall swung open and Professor Longbottom led the first years down the central aisle between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Nate sat up straight in order to see Brandon and Felicity. Once he was convinced that they were both in fact okay and ready to be sorted he sat back a little.

“Once I was a young hat,  
Pointed without a tear,  
But now I am an old hat,  
Sorting you all with flair.

Over a thousand years before,  
United by a single desire,  
Four great minds,  
Sought to Inspire.

Ole’ Gryffindor sought,  
The daring, brave and the strong,  
While Hufflepuff fought,  
For the patient, a place to belong.

Slytherin sought to teach,  
The cunning and the sly,  
Great Ravenclaw preached,  
To those with great minds to apply.

I may now be old and worn,  
But your minds are young and fresh,  
And long ago I was sworn,  
To put them to the test!”

The students burst into a round of applause as the sorting hat finished its song while James leaned forward, speaking so only Nate and Serena could hear, "I think that hat is finally running out of things to say – it’s been over a thousand years after all.”

Serena shrugged, “What will they do if that actually happens?”

Nate shrugged, “Does it matter? We’re already sorted…and probably some bizarre challenge – nothing about the wizarding world or the sorting is normal.”

Professor Longbottom stepped forward a long scroll in his hand, “Now – when I call your name, you are step forward, sit on the stool and place the sorting hat upon your head…once you are sorted you are to make your way to your new house...Arnold, Olivia!”

A small brunette nervously made her way up the few steps. She sat with trepidation down on the stool and pulled the hat onto her head. Moments later the hat announced;

“SLYTHERIN!”

Nate, James and Serena didn’t pay too much attention to the next few who were sorted, clapping and cheering wildly with the rest of their house when Bethany Carter and Oliver Fitz-Jordan joined the Gryffindor.

“Holland, Brandon!”

Nate sat up straight and watched as Brandon made his way up the steps causing many students to laugh as he tripped on the top one. Brandon grinned sitting down on the stool and pulling the hat down around his ears. Nate glanced around nervously the longer that Brandon was sat on that stool but around the four minutes mark, the hat called out;

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

Brandon made his way cheerily towards the Hufflepuff table and was greeted with a very warm welcome.

“Holland, Felicity!”

The students fell silent once again as the youngest and only female Holland nervously made her way up to the stool. Unlike her twin, she did in quickly and silently, wishing that the attention would not focused on her for much longer.

Luckily, it was only seconds after she pulled the hat down onto her head, the that hat announced;

“RAVENCLAW!”

Felicity blushed as the Ravenclaw table erupted into wild applause as she quickly took her seat at the table next to Victoire, who wrapped a comforting arm around her. Felicity froze slightly but soon relaxed remembering the bubbly blonde from her visit to Diagon Alley earlier in the summer.

Nate clapped loudly as his sister took her seat, “That’s a Holland in every house!”

Serena grinned, “School domination huh?”

Nate nodded, “Next is the world! But seriously…my Gran was a Hufflepuff – same as Bran!”

“And your parents?”

Nate shook his head, “Dad was a squib and mum was a muggle…no one expected them to have 5 magical kids…”

James let out a snort of laughter, “I bet they didn’t…”

The trio fell silent as the sorting continued. They quickly realised that despite their joy at being able to welcome the new members of Gryffindor into the fold, the actual sorting ceremony was rather boring. 

Fortunately, soon Kerry Young was sorted into Slytherin and Headmaster Williams took to the lectern.

“Good Evening! Welcome to a brand new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Now let the feast begin!”

Instantly, mass quantities of food appeared on the table and it didn’t take long before the students were tucking into the food. Unlike last year, James, who had been eating steadily and consistently throughout the summer, began to load his plate full of his favourite foods.

Serena rolled her eyes at the size of the boys plates but didn’t say anything, If she was honest she was eating more than she ever normally would. She had missed the food at Hogwarts. Her parents cooking could definitely not compare to what the House-elves made.

“I’ve missed this place…”

“It’s good to be home, isn’t it?”

“Home…I like the sound of that.”


	3. Quidditch Try Outs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work xx

The first two weeks of term passed in a blur of meetings and preparing for the upcoming Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs. Serena and James attended their first few proper Hogwarts Weekly meetings and were actually disappointed to learn that for at least the first year, they would mainly be learning how the club worked and the skills they would need to actually start writing their own articles. Serena was extremely disappointed when she discovered this, but it only intensified her determination to join the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. James, on the other hand, was actually pretty pleased that he wouldn’t have to actually commit too much time to the paper initially. He was still concerned about the way he had reacted at the end of the previous school year, so he was pretty pleased that he would have more time to get used to his schedule. 

Especially as he had officially decided to try out for the Quidditch team. 

Over the summer he had constantly changed his mind about whether he was going to try out for the team. It was a huge time commitment and he knew already how stressed he could get under pressure. 

But it wasn’t that what was putting him off.

Not only had his mother and father been on the Quidditch Team, but his Grandfather had as well. That was a lot of pressure that he wasn’t sure he was ready for being placed upon his shoulders. For once the pressure wouldn’t come from being Harry Potter’s son but rather from being Ginny Potter nee Weasley’s son and James Potter’s grandson. Trying out for the position of Chaser would bring a lot of attention onto James and he wasn’t sure that he was ready. 

But he had promised Nate, Serena, Dominique and Spencer that he would at least tryout for the Gryffindor team that year. They wouldn’t force him to play if he was selected and he didn’t want to. But he had to at least try.

Which meant that now on the third Thursday in September James was pulling on the clothes that he would try out in. Over the past several years the clothing and equipment requirement for school Quiddicth matches had changed, almost becoming more muggle, meaning that right now he was pulling on an old ratty jumper with holes on the sleeves and a pair of old black Quidditch breeches that he normally wore when playing in the family matches. He sat back down on his bed and pulled on his worn Quidditch boots and pads before reaching across his bed and picking up his broom. 

The Firebolt Supreme was a world class broomstick that had been used by the Bulgarian National Team in the 2014 World Cup; James still couldn’t quite believe that his parents had bought him one over the summer. He had used the summer holidays to get to grips with his new broom.

Taking a deep breath, James stood up and glanced to where Nate was lacing up his boots. Grabbing his gloves, James coughed to gain the attention of Nate.

“You nervous?”

Nate shrugged as he stood up shouldering his own broom, a Nimbus 6000, “I guess…I mean…what if I don’t make the team? When both Xan and Spence did?”

James shrugged as the two left the dorm room, “Nothing really…you try out next year…or you get a spot on the reserves…it’s not the end of the world if you don’t make the team…they aren’t going to be disappointed in you if you don’t make the team…”

Nate rolled his eyes as they stepped into the common room, “Who’re you trying to convince? Me or You?”

James chuckled, “Both I guess…”

The pair jumped in surprise when Serena appeared beside them. 

Serena laughed, “Nervous?”

Nate rolled his eyes as they made their way out of the common room and down the stairs to the Quidditch pitch, “You could say…”

“Relax…neither of you have anything to worry about…”

James squared his shoulders as more Gryffindor’s could be seen heading down towards the pitch, “You don’t know that…”

“Oh please…you’re both great players…plus they need so many for the team this year…5 first team players and an entire reserve team…I hadn’t realised how many people had graduated until I was talking with Spencer last night…”

“Talking with my brother huh? Trying to get a foot in the door?”

Serena rolled her eyes and shook her head, “No – I was just curious on what the try-out was actually like – I wanted to know what to expect.”

“What can we expect?” Nate questioned.

“We’ll be split into group depending on what position…keepers and chasers together…and the beaters in another group…apparently there’ll be some tests of our speed…passing, catching, throwing, aiming – teamwork – you know the usual. And then they’ll start narrowing and picking players…”

Nate glanced sideways at James, “Hey! Didn’t Dom make the Hufflepuff team yesterday?”

James nodded, “Yeah…she’s really excited about it…”

Serena grinned, “From what I saw this summer she’s ready to win…”

“Dom’s always ready to win…it’s a Weasley thing…”

The trio soon arrived down at the Quidditch pitch and were hardly surprised to see the vast amount of people that were there to try out for the team. The number of people in the stands though, was slightly surprising. They hadn’t expected an audience at their tryouts.

The crowd of students fell silent as the Current Captain Sarah Rhodes stepped forward with Spencer stood just a step behind her.

“Good Evening Everyone! Now first off…If there is anyone not from Gryffindor or a first year - please can you leave?”

A couple of small students muttered about how it wasn’t fair that they had to wait but made their way up to the stands relatively quietly.

“Now! Welcome! As you can see – this year we are replacing most of the team as only myself and Spencer are left. I play Chaser and Spencer plays Seeker – so if anyone here is trying out for seeker be prepared that the best you will get is reserves!”

“Now first of all…You are to split yourselves into groups of 6– no more – and when I shout your group number you are to fly once around the pitch! Don’t worry! The try-out will get harder!”

James, Serena and Nate found themselves in different groups, Nate in group 1, Serena group 4 and James in 8. Nate pushed off confidently from the ground and it was clear that the others in his group hadn’t actually flown all that much, which made Nate look really spectacular.

Serena’s group was a very mixed group. There were two other players who already looked incredibly strong and Serena was determined to match them in every way possible.  
James had to actually stop himself from laughing at his group, there was one other good flyer who James actually recognised from the Hogwarts Weekly meetings. One of the other flyers had only remained air borne for a few minutes before he crashed to the crowd in sheer surprise, his friends soon following suit until it was just James and the other guy.

The other flyer flew up next to James, the duo keeping a steady pace, “You’re James right? James Potter?”

“James is fine…and you’re…Benjamin?”

“Yeah…Benjamin Wright…call me Benj…”

The duo continued their lap of the pitch in a comfortable silence before they landed back down on the ground to discover, not all that surprisingly, that they had made it through to the next round.

Sarah grinned at the smaller group of students, “That’s better! Now – you are going to be split into groups depending on the position you play…Beaters and Seekers are going over there with Spencer…Keepers and Chaser’s are staying with me…”

Nate blinked but followed his brother and the biggest group of students over to the other side of the pitch. Sarah looked around at the group, “A smaller selection of students are trying out for these positions than I thought…ah well…first off we are going to do some trials with the Chasers…if you each want to grab a bib and push off from the ground…Prospective Keepers…pull on some protective gear and get ready…”

Sarah pushed off hard from the ground and gestured for the Chasers to gather around her, “Okay…I’m playing Keeper for the time being…but don’t go easy on me…its survival of the fittest…One! Two! Three! GO!”

Immediately they all sprang into action, with Serena taking early possession of the ball and doing a dipper manoeuvre and throw the Quaffle straight through the left hoop. Once the Quaffle was back in play, there was dipping, diving and nicely executed Finborough Flick by James, all leading to the Quaffle soaring through the hoops. Two of the prospective chasers had already given up once it became clear that they just couldn’t keep up with the other five. For Sarah it was becoming an increasingly easy decision. At first, they all had all bee evenly matched on scoring but that was now a thing of the past. 

As James threw another one through the right hoop, Sarah called a halt to the whole preceding.

“Okay! Okay! You five have certainly proved your points! The good news is you are all on the team in some capacity! But the lucky two to make it to the first team are…Serena Taylor and James Potter! Calvin Fredricks, Josh Partridge and Callie Boardman you are all on the Reserves! You will need to be at the training sessions on Thursday nights but not at any on the weekends unless you are called upon! Congratualations!”

Callie, Josh and Calvin congratulated Serena and James, each in agreement that the right decision had been made.

Sarah regained their attention, “I do, however, still need your help for the keeper trials. You all game?”

After gaining the affirmative the group all landed down on the pitch. Sarah went over to check on Nate who seemed to be arguing with some rejected beaters. They were probably bent out of shape because Nate had given one of the spots to his brother. But even Sarah had noticed that Nate had much more skill than those who were arguing with Nate.  
Eventually, Sarah returned while Spencer, Nate and Wes Dawson followed. The reserve seeker and beaters took seats in the stands along with everyone else.

Sarah stood in front of the four boys who were trying out for the position of keeper, “These five chasers are each going to attempt to score…the one who lets the least through is our first team Keeper…so Jordan – off you go?”

Harley Jordan didn’t actually manage to save any of the goals and as soon as he landed he made his way up into the stands without complaint. Keith Mulhurn saved three and George Pepper saved four but it was Benj who made the team saving all five of the goals. 

Sarah quickly gathered her new first team in the locker rooms, while the reserves and everyone else made their way back up to the castle in the quickly fading light.

“Well done…Well done all of you and Welcome to the Gryffindor team! I’m really excited about this team! What about you Spence?”

Spencer nodded and grinned from his spot leaning against the back wall while the five new players all perched curiously on the bench.

“Right…now the first training session will be on Thursday…we practice every Thursday at 5 for 2 hours…unless the weather is so atrocious but that will be decided on the day. On a weekend I have secured the pitch for Saturday mornings 7 am until 11 – that is just the first team and all of you must be here. Ravenclaw have the pitch Saturday afternoons from 1 until 5pm, no one practices over lunch or after 5 on weekends any more, while Slytherin and Hufflepuff share on Sunday’s. We won’t have practice this weekend and will begin a week from today. By then I will have all of your equipment and clothing.”

The group nodded as Sarah paused for a moment.

“Training must be done wearing your training jersey, any Quidditch breeches, boots, pads and any other clothing you want to wear. You will each receive a pair of black training breeches, along with two base layers and your jersey – alongside your actual uniform of white breeches, a jumper, socks and a robe. All of which will come in a sports bag. Headmaster Williams has really splashed out and improved what we get – so much better that being in the Gobstones club…”

They group laughed while Sarah turned to face Spencer, “You got any tips for them before we leave for the night? Otherwise we’ll miss dinner all together…”

Spencer nodded, “Some things I would recommend keeping in your bag…a towel, shampoo, conditioner…whatever else you use…a water bottle and definitely some none Quidditch clothes, even if it’s just sweatpants, a hoodie and some trainers…trust me, you’ll want them.”

Sarah nodded, “Good…Our first match is November 21st – but for now – lets go eat!”


	4. Dominique's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read, commented and left kudo's on this work xx
> 
> There is a little bit (ie. like 1 word) of swearing in this chapter. There may be more as the story continues and the characters get older so beware xx

It didn’t take long for any of the new Quidditch Players to fall into the routine of attending practice and balancing school work. James occasionally had to be reminded to eat, with both Nate and Serena keeping extra snacks in their sports bags just in case. But it wasn’t an all the time thing, James was actually getting pretty good at remembering to eat, even if it wasn’t what the others were eating. He had started to eat hyper healthily. Which at Hogwarts posed a slight problem as it seemed that all of the food that was served aimed to make the students gain weight. James often compared it to eating at his Grandparents. It was as if Hogwarts was feeding up it’s students during the school year to make up for what they ate while at home. Which, he guessed, made sense for some. But when your Grandmother is Molly Weasley it’s not exactly necessary.

But now after 4 hours of practice, Nate, James and Serena were slowly dragging their weary bodies back up to the castle where they would change into something more appropriate that sweatpants and hoodies for Dominique’s birthday party. 

This year, Victoire had insisted on gathering in the Room of Requirement so that they all could be together, rather than in the Great Hall at breakfast or sitting in their respective common rooms alone.

So, the trio made their way up the staircases slowly, thankful that they didn’t decide to move, and into the Gryffindor common room.

“I’m pretty sure Sarah wants to kill us…”

Serena gripped her sports bag onto her shoulder as she replied, “She...she doesn’t want to kill us...she wants us to be the best…”

Nate shrugged wincing slightly, “She actually pushed me and Wes off our brooms...how is that not trying to kill us?”

“You were less than a metre off the ground...she wasn’t actually going to let you die…”

Nate rolled his eyes, “You speak with such confidence.”

Serena grinned as they reached the separate staircases, “Confidence is key to everything - remember?”

James rolled his eyes at the pair, “That was a direct quote from Oliver Wood’s book…”

“It’s kind of sad that you know that mate…”

James slapped Nate on the arm causing him to wince and glare daggers at his best friend, “My dad was on the team when Oliver Wood was Captain...he’s pretty much family by now - and trust me if you knew him you’d realise that he actually speaks that way - like all the time.”

“Really?”

“Uhuh…”

Serena bid the boys farewell promising them to that they would meet in the common room in half an hour to go to the Room of Requirement. Serena climbed up the stairs but froze when she reached the door to her dorm room. The door was cracked open slightly and she could hear people talking from within.

“You know she’s only friends with James Sirius Potter to get close to his dad, though right?”

“I know - it’s just she’s always there. I’ve been trying to talk to him for weeks but he just listens to her!”

“I know - but - maybe - oh I can’t believe I’m saying this! Maybe we can use her to get close to him!”

Serena frowned slightly at the conversation that Laura and Cora were having clearly about her relationship with James. It just couldn’t be any one else. James didn’t have any over girl friends, unless you count Dominique, Victoire, Kayla and Sarah. And as one of them was his Quidditch Captain, two were his cousins and Kayla had a huge crush on him, it just had to be here. 

Taking a deep breath, Serena tightened her grip on her sports back and pushed the door open carefully causing Laura and Cora’s heads to snap to the door letting their conversation die.

“Serena! Good practice?” Cora asked lightly.

Serena shrugged and put her sports bag away in her trunk before beginning to rummage through her wardrobe to find something suitable, “It was okay - Sarah is task master though…”

Laura shared a look with Cora, “So - what are your plans for the afternoon? Maybe we could join you?”

Serena had to try and hide her grin. She knew that there was absolutely no way that the two would be welcome at Dominique’s birthday. And they both knew that. 

“Actually - Its Dominique’s birthday, so we’re all getting ready to celebrate with her…”

“Oh...is...will James be there? Or is he staying here?”

Serena rolled her eyes, “Of course he is going...Dominique is his cousin...now if you’ll excuse me…”

Serena quickly disappeared into the small en-suite bathroom where she could changed without having Cora and Laura watching her every move. Five minutes later she stepped out of the room in a pair of black jeans and the red jumper that Victoire had given her for her birthday the year before. As she stepped out of the room Cora and Laura’s eyes widened in surprise.

Cora blinked, “You...you look good…”

Serena was surprised at the compliment and forced a smile onto her face, “Thanks - it was a gift from Victoire last year…”

Laura’s jaw dropped open in surprise, “Victoire? As in Victoire Weasley?”

“Yeah…”

“Well - you look nice... have a good time…”

Serena smiled softly as she picked up the present, “Thanks - have a good afternoon….”

serena left her dorm room quickly and made her way down into the common room where James was already waiting, his arms full of presents, causing Serena to laugh unexpectedly. James turned his head slightly to meet her eyes.

“Hey...you look great! That’s from your birthday last year, right?”

Serena grinned, “Thanks...and you remember when I got it? and they say all boys are useless…” 

James rolled his eyes, “I have a sister and 6 female cousins...it has been drilled into me since birth to take notice of what they are wearing...plus Teddy can be just as bad…”

Serena giggled and glanced around the common room from Nate.

As if reading her mind, James spoke, “Nate’s still getting ready...and we need to wait for Spencer anyway...Serena - are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah. Why?”

“You look kind of sad.”

Serena sighed, “I overheard a conversation between Cora and Laura…”

“And?”

“They said that I was only your friend to get close to your dad - which isn’t true by the way…”

“I know…”

“And...they said that they should use me to get close to you…”

James snorted, “That’s a ridiculous idea. I know you aren’t friends with me to get close to my dad. And they’re stupid if they think they can use you! You’re Serena...you don’t let anyone use you because you’re awesome.”

Serena smiled shyly up at James at the sudden compliment, “Thanks James…”

James grinned, “No problem...it’s true. Ah - and here are Nate and Spencer - finally!” 

Nate and Spencer both appeared in the common room each gripping a badly wrapped gift in their hands.

Spencer grinned, “Sorry, sorry…”

Nate rolled his eyes at his brother, “No you aren’t. Now come on otherwise we will be late. And I really don’t want to anger Victoire.”

James nodded as they left the common room, “That is a very wise idea...not angering Vic, I mean. Actually, it would be good to avoid angering any of Weasley women. I have learnt that the hard way.”

Nate rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, “Never!”

James grinned, “They weren’t always receptive mine and Teddy’s, or mine, Dom and Fred’s pranks…”

Serena giggled, “I can’t imagine why.”

The group made their way across the castle to the Seventh Floor Left corridor and grinned when as they approached a large stone wall a small wooden door appeared. James reached forward twisted the doorknob and pulled the door open, gesturing for the the other three to enter.

Dominique emitted a loud squeal when Serena entered the room, immediately pulling her into a hug. Spencer and Nate got a very similar response but James got the most enthusiastic response of all.

Dominique said hello but continued to pull Serena, Nate and Spencer into the room, almost ignoring James. 

James, used to his cousins bizarre behaviour, rolled his eyes, “Hi Dom. Happy Birthday! Oh you’re welcome for the gifts. Really, it’s good to see you too.”

Dominique smiled warmly over her shoulder, “Love you Jamie!”

“Yeah, Yeah - Love you too.”

James moved over to where Victoire was setting up Dominique’s presents, “Hey…”

Victoire grinned and once James had placed the gifts down, pulled him into a hug, “Hi...you look beat…”

“Thanks. What is it with you and Dom today? Huh?”

Victoire grinned, “Nothing. Just being honest. Jamie you remember my best friend Alissa, right? From this summer?”

James nodded, “It’s nice to see you again…”

Alissa grinned, “Likewise. And Vic, it’s good that he’s looking beat...that means Sarah is kicking his arse at practice...which you had this morning, correct?”

James smiled and nodded, “Yeah...and you’d be right...she pushed Nate off his broom earlier...and you’re a Ravenclaw chaser, right?”

Alissa nodded, “Yeah…”

Victoire rolled her eyes, “Probably one of the only reasons I actually watch the house matches...well now I guess I actually have to go to more than just the Ravenclaw ones, seeing as how you and Dom both made your teams…”

“You don’t have to come to the Gryffindor matches.”

Victoire rolled her eyes, “I’m coming to them all. And I’m going to cheer obnoxiously loudly for you...well accept for you play Ravenclaw...although that’s the match of the 2nd Right?”

“Your birthday and yes...the only game in the calendar which isn’t played on a Saturday.”

Alissa shrugged, “It’s because it’s a part of the Victory Day celebrations...and it’s always Ravenclaw against Gryffindor. I personally think we should switch it up and have the Hufflepuff against Slytherin game instead. Just to shake things up.”

Victoire rolled her eyes, “Same...but hey you don’t have to share a birthday with the day that your uncle, boyfriend’s parents and tons of your parents friends died on…”

James shrugged, “At least you aren’t actually named after dead people…”

Alissa giggled causing Victoire and James to turn to her in surprise, “Your family is fucked up you know that?”

Victoire and James burst out laughing nodding.

“We are very much aware of that.”

Victoire grinned, “Come on, before they continue with this party without us...and ah remember that Felicity is here…”

James blinked in surprise, “She is?”

Victoire nodded, “Yeah...she’s been struggling a little bit….but she’s really sweet - I brought her along thinking that seeing Nate and Spencer would make her come out of her shell a little more.”

Alissa nodded, “She’s one hell of a flyer - actually can’t wait until next year when we will have a Chaser spot open up when Melissa leaves.”

James smiled, “She’s that good?”

Alissa nodded, “Better than Xander and Spencer anyway...we’ll have to wait and see about Nate...now come on, Dom’s getting impatient…”


	5. Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work. Just a reminder that I post head-canons, photos and character information on http://www.throughthewitchesglass.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> Enjoy xx

James and Serena reluctantly followed Nate out of the common room and down the stairs towards the Great Hall. After yet another long four hour Quidditch practice the last thing that either of them wanted to do was to go and sit through the Halloween feast. Despite their arguments that nothing had changed in the year since the last Halloween and that they still absolutely detested the holiday, Nate was having none of it.

He claimed that they had to experience Halloween at Hogwarts, that it truly was a sight to see and that he was not letting them miss another year. 

“I’m being serious you’ll love it!”

James rolled his eyes,”What I would love is to curl up with a book in the common room…”

Nate rolled his eyes, “You’re acting like you’re 120!”

James shrugged, “After this morning’s practice I feel it…”

Serena nodded in agreement, “It was brutal.”

Nate grinned, “Stop being wusses - and maybe it wouldn’t have so brutal if you two hadn’t gone to the Hogwarts Weekly meeting last night…”

James chuckled running a hand through his hair, “Maybe, maybe not - and we had to be there. It was really interesting actually, looking at how the use of punctuation and syntax can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Also, we learnt that you can typically tell whether it a boy or girl who has written the piece all because of the punctuation and syntax. It’s actually all pretty cool.”

“Nerd!”

Seren slapped Nate on the arm as they entered the Great Hall, “He isn’t a nerd...but even I have to admit he is a little too enthusiastic about this.”

“I can hear you both you know?”

“We know…” Serena and Nate replied at the same time causing James to roll his eyes. Once the trio had settled into a spot right at the end of the Gryffindor table, James and Serena took in the sights of the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was bathed in a dark orange hue, that if they didn’t know better, they would have thought was due to the vast number of floating pumpkins that had replaced the candles present at every other feast. In the four corners of the room, hiding some of the small doors leading to side chambers, were four giant pumpkins that James had seen Hagrid pulling in earlier in the day. It seemed that all Hogwarts resident ghosts were out to celebrate the holiday, which was actually pretty depressing. Contrary to popular belief, there hadn’t been a large increase in the number of ghosts that haunted the castle following the Second War. Almost everyone who had fought and lost their lives in the Battle of Hogwarts had been prepared to die. They knew it was a possibility.

There were a couple of additions to the already strong 40 or so ghosts that had haunted the castle prior to the war. A Slytherin boy who had been killed by his own mother, a death-eater, during the battle because he refused to join her side; and a Hufflepuff girl who had been killed by Fenrir Greyback in Hogsmeade not long before the final battle.  
The sight of all of the ghosts was actually slightly off putting as the students continued to file into the room. It was rare that you would stumble across some of these ghosts. Everyone knew that Moaning Myrtle would be somewhere along the pipelines and the house ghosts were regularly spotted around the castle. And of course Professor Binns could always be found droning on and on about the Goblin Wars. But the others were a rare sight.

Glancing down at the teachers table, the group noticed that several of the Professor’s had dressed up for the occasion. Professor Trelawney was dressed in luminous orange robes with what appeared to be orange pumpkin earrings dangling from her ears. 

It was also a surprise that there were so many little black cats prowling through the Great Hall. James knew that black cats and their associations with wizards and witches was something that was primarily thought up by muggles, but he couldn’t help but notice that there did seem to be more black cats than he had ever really taken notice off. He knew that Jinx was scared of some of the other cats in the school but he hadn’t really taken notice of any of the other students pets.

Bats were also flying about the hall and as someone who generally skittish about the owls flying overhead every morning, James was not particularly fond of that addition to decorations. 

Really could they wizarding world live up to the stereotypes muggles had placed on them any more than they were right then?

Serena leaned forward so that Nate could hear her over the chatter of the students as they waited for Headmaster Williams to appear, “What sort of food do they have? Please tell me it isn’t all pumpkin?”

Nate shrugged, “There is a lot of pumpkin. But that’s kind of normal in the wizarding world, you know? Fliss hates pumpkin juice and for the entire first week of term she wasn’t drinking anything at Breakfast because she thought that she had to have pumpkin juice - it was only when Victoire noticed that she told Fliss that she could ask for something else.”

James nodded, remembering Victoire telling him about that conversation, “Does your Grandmother stock lots of pumpkin things in the shop?”

Nate shrugged, “She stocks some. She has too as that’s what people want. People love buying seasonal treats as well as what she is quickly establishing as staples. Gran’s always gone a little mad about Halloween - it was really the only holiday that wizarding custom wasn’t so out of place that it made my mum feel uncomfortable. And anyway, Fliss doesn’t really like pumpkin at all though, so last year she went more down the muggle route of making food in the shape of pumpkins and stuff - apparently they proved really popular.”

Serena shuddered, “I don’t understand what the obsession is with pumpkins! What about apple juice? Or orange juice? Nice normal breakfast juices…”

James rolled his eyes, “My entire family loves pumpkin juice - like my Uncle Ron drinks the stuff by the gallon - its ridiculous.”

Before Nate or Serena could reply, Headmaster Williams stepped forward up to the lectern.

“Good evening students, faculty and ghosts! Happy Halloween to each and every one of you! On this hallowed Night we celebrate our community of witches and wizards across the world. And tonight we remember and commemorate the sacrifice made by James and Lily Potter on this night in 1981. They gave their lives so that their son, the Great Harry Potter, Saviour of the Wizarding World could live! Tonight we remember their sacrifice for the greater good, for the survival of our kind! So before we begin our feast, let us raise to our feet and toast - to James and Lily Potter! To Harry Potter!”

James felt himself shrinking into the jumper that was still a little too big to him but went along with the toast anyway, it would have just made him stand out even more if he hadn’t. Once the students had all retaken their seats vast quantities of food appeared on the table and they all tucked into the feast. 

James looked up at Nate, an eyebrow raised, “You couldn’t have warned me about that?”

Nate shrugged, “You wouldn’t have come if I’d told you the headmaster was a part of your dad’s fan club.”

“True - but seriously - that’s why I don’t like Halloween. The day my Grandparents were killed by Voldemort and my dad was left an orphan. There isn’t exactly much to celebrate about any of that.”

Serena nodded and pulled a face as she tasted the Chicken and Pumpkin Stew, before pushing to the side of her plate, instead reaching for the regular Yorkshire pudding. Well at least she hoped they were regular Yorkshire puddings.

“That is pretty depressing. Do you do anything on Halloween with your family?”

James shrugged, “There’s always the family meal at the Burrow - my grandparents place - but that happens every Sunday anyway - and before any big event or for any big event. But Dad always takes me, Al and Lily to Godric’s Hallow and we go and put flowers on their graves - we do that at Christmas too - we go visit Teddy’s parent’s graves and my dad’s godfather and my Uncle Fred and - well, you get the point, we visit a lot of graves.”

Nate nodded and swallowed his mouthful of food, “I get that - my Granddad is dead, parents and maternal grandparents - Gran always tries to make it out like it’s a day trip but even for wizards that’s weird.”

Serena shrugged, “I wouldn’t know...but it does sound kind of depressing. Like - do you all go together?”

James shrugged, “Sometimes - I go with Dad and Teddy a lot - but well, you’ll see on Victory Day in May what its like. Last year I stayed in the castle and avoided everyone but this year we’ll be playing so I’ll have to partake in whatever they have me doing. Plus, we’ll probably have stuff for Hogwarts Weekly to do…”

Serena giggled, “For someone who didn’t initially want to join you are getting into it…”

James chuckled, “I know. It surprises me too. But it’s really interesting.”

Nate rolled his eyes, “I’ll repeat - Nerds - both of you.”

Serena smiled, “But you love us.”

Nate grinned back, “Yeah - I kinda do…”


	6. Hufflepuff V Ravenclaw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work.
> 
> This turned into a rather long chapter (in comparison to the rest of the chapter's that I write).
> 
> Despite the research I attempted to make, I could not find exactly how wizarding books and newspapers were published. I initially imagined that they would still be using something similar to the original printing press (I'm a History student) but then I remembered: Magic. Throughout this series I will explore more of why and how (at least in my head) the wizarding world has adapted and grown in line (or out of line) with the muggle world.
> 
> Please remember that these aspects are my own ideas and do not reflect the work of J.K Rowling. As soon as she says something to solidify methods, processes and what the wizarding world took from the muggle world, I will adapt my ideas to fit.
> 
> My Face Cast (or Claim or Fc or whatever you want to call it) for the players, as well as head-canons for characters, can be found at http://throughthewitchesglass.tumblr.com/
> 
> Once again, thanks for reading xx

“James! Come on! We’re going to be late!”

“Explain why we have to go to the Hogwarts Weekly meeting this morning before the match…”

“I thought you liked Hogwarts Weekly?”

“I do! I just don’t like early mornings! Serena – it’s half 5!”

“I know, I know. But we have to meet to go over what happens on match days as we’re playing in the next match. And we don’t want to miss breakfast which starts at 8. The match starts at 10. This is the only time that we are ever going to learn about the process of match day…”

“I know. You’re right but…”

“Did you just say I’m right?”

“Yeah, I did. Don’t let it go to your head. Now come on before we are late…”

Grabbing a hold of Serena’s hand, the two ran through the empty corridors of Hogwarts Castle, their shoes clattering against the hard stone floor. Eventually they reached the old classroom that had been turned into the headquarters for Hogwarts Weekly. The classroom had long stopped being used for actual lessons and had soon been adapted to include the magical equipment used to publish and store the copies of Hogwarts Weekly.

They entered the room and were surprised to find that they were not the last ones to arrive, as second later the door swung shut with the final two people, Hufflepuff girls, entering and leaning back against it breathing deeply. 

The room was a flutter of activity as the older students rushed around to ensure that everything was ready and prepared for when Hogwarts Weekly would be published and distributed that night.

It had always amazed James how the Wizarding world took what they needed from the muggle world while still remaining hidden. Sure, Victoire would argue that it was about time that wizards lost the robes and medieval dress sense, and moved towards a more muggle outlook, but everyone knew that wasn’t going to change any time soon. Much of the Wizarding World was still stuck in the 17th Century when they were forced into hiding and those that did adapt, always did it with the awkwardness of a child trying not to look panicked when they lost sight of their parent in the supermarket. 

Publishing was one thing that James had quickly become fascinated by. The actual publication of the paper (and he had discovered that many books were actually published this way) was a rather simple one on the face of it, a process of three wooden tables. But in fact, it involved a rather complex series of charms and enchantments.

At the very back of the room, against the left wall (the one that backed onto the corridor) was a long wide oak table. There were trays right at the back of the table in which the completed articles were placed in the correct order, the Front page being placed in the first tray and so on. By some very complex charms the written articles are then copied onto the papers settling down into neat piles on the middle bench. Once enough copies of each article have been printed (at Hogwarts the Hogwarts Weekly produces around 120 copies of the paper each week, 40 per house and then one for each Professor, plus a few spare), the papers all fly across the room attaching themselves together in order and pile up on the third bench into 6 piles. One pile for the teachers, one for Slytherin, one for Hufflepuff, one for Gryffindor, one for Ravenclaw and one of any spare copies. The spare copies, along with each individual article that was written, is stored in filing cabinets in the classroom. 

James was interested to learn about the actual magic that went into producing the newspapers as he knew that in the muggle world, thanks to his Aunt Audrey, that muggle newspapers were printed now on what appeared to be giant rollers and were cut and folded by huge machines that would deafen you if you went in without noise cancelling headphones. 

Buzz waved over James, Serena and the two Hufflepuff girls to the first oak table.

“Morning! Sorry about the early start but with it being Ravenclaw V Hufflepuff, we kind of wanted to get this done so we wouldn’t miss breakfast – call it house bias. Anyway, as you know these trays are filled with the different articles for each of the pages. So, this week of course the front page will be start of the coverage of the match – as it is with every Hogwarts game. The rest of the coverage will continue in the Sports Section. In try two, we have the articles for the News Section laid out side by side – this week we have a story on a recent guest Potions Professor who spoke to NEWT students, in my opinion he was pretty good but not the best. We also have a piece on the recent raids on some wizarding houses by the Auror’s on Thursday. Now, what a kafuffle that turned into…”

James held back a snort. In his letter from his father that had arrived the previous morning he had been told in detail about the mess that had descended amongst the poor unsuspecting trainee Auror’s when Harry and Ron had established a series of raids on other Ministry Employees (with their permission of course). No one had expected the press to get a hold of the story. But it wasn’t that surprising that the story had been warped and twisted into the Auror’s ambushing innocent witches and wizards in their homes on a regular Thursday morning.

“Anyway, in tray three is the two pieces for the opinion section. This week is a debate regarding the new controls on intoxicating substances as implemented by the Department of Intoxicating Substances, which is a branch of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Both pieces are well worth a read, and as a topic I wasn’t really interested in, they did make me want to investigate further. Which any good article should do…”

Buzz led them further up the oak table, “Okay, so tray four is the Sports Section. This week we’ll have an overview of the match, which will be written by Christopher Harp, a Slytherin, plus the two reviews on the matches, I’ll be doing the Ravenclaw piece and Jessica will be doing the Hufflepuff piece. For the Hogwarts matches, we don’t have any photography from the air – Madam Hooch won’t allow it – but we will have some photography from the ground prior and following the match. In the sports sections we normally include information of the British and Irish Quidditch League, as well as any selections for the European and the World Cup. That will begin in earnest in the spring, when the British and Irish Season starts.”

They moved to the end of the table.

“Right, sometimes in tray six we have information regarding any entertainment that is happening – during the Triwizard Tournament, this is where we have information regarding the Trials as well as the Yule Ball. Dad is still kind of in shock that they actually brought it back last year after what happen in the 1994-1995 school year, but last year went smoothly so it’s been decided that it will continue. Unless there is something going on, tray six is usually the classified section. This is mainly students who have lost belongings, are looking for a tutor, offers for the stores in Hogsmeade – those sorts of things are displayed. Students have until 5 pm every Friday to submit if they want something written in the classifieds. This week we have a lot of people with lost belongings – I’m guessing that is a result of Peeve’s Halloween pranks. And in tray seven, we have the back page which is generally a little something written by one of the Professors. Sometimes it will offer a little guidance to an exam, offer tips on spell work – sometimes it is a joke, a poem, wise words - anything really. This week the Headmaster himself had something to say. Any questions?”

Serena smiled, “What if there isn’t a Hogwarts match? Is there just – not a Sports Section?”

Buzz grinned and shook his head, “It varies – Gobstones and even Chess – though even I have to admit I don’t quite see either of them as a serious sport – will be reported on in that section. Information regarding various extra-curricular clubs may be mentioned, especially now that the Duelling Club has been reinstated…”

One of the Hufflepuff girls pointed up to the wall, “What’s that?”

Buzz laughed, “Ah – I probably should have mentioned that before. That is the master layout for Hogwarts Weekly. Each week as Editor I have to approve all the articles that appear and I have to approve the layout of each edition of Hogwarts Weekly. The layout or template does stay the same pretty much as each section stays the same. It marks out where each of the images for each article go…using some fancy magic each week we connect what is the trays with its corresponding section on the template. This ensures that everything is printed in the correct order and that the paper is assembled correctly between tables two and three. Of course, there is sometimes mishaps and we are constantly improving the system but right now this is what we work with…”

James nodded, “I know last week you said you publish special editions of the paper, what are those exactly?”

“We do a Christmas edition every year – mostly filled with well wishes, tips of gift buying and the like. Last year we did a Valentine’s edition as people seemed to want to make even bigger declarations of their love…”

James rolled his eyes and muttered, “I’m aware of that one…”

“But the most anticipated and the one which is the most unique out of the all the papers we produce is the Victory Day Edition. All aspects of the day are reported on, from the speeches, the match and there are even interviews with some of the attendees. As well as an in memoriam section which lists all those that lost their lives during both the First and the Second War fighting for the Light. Any more questions?”

The other Hufflepuff girl nodded, “When will we get to write an article?”

Buzz shrugged, “It all depends. You can write as many articles as you like, but not all of them are ever published. Normally, your first article will be published during your third or fourth year. We like to make sure that your writing is improving and that you are confident, able to handle the criticism that you may get because of the article. But please, write articles and show me or one of the other writers and we will be more than happy to help. You never know when something you write may be good enough to be published…”

Buzz glanced down at his watch, “Now – lets go eat now so none of us are late for the match…”

The other students who had each been busily working away on last minute chances to their articles began to file out of the room. Serena and James exited just a head of Buzz who ensured that the room was secured and that no student would be able to enter unless they worked for Hogwarts Weekly.

Serena glanced sideways at James, “Isn’t Victoire’s birthday Victory Day?”

“Yeah – they were really inventive naming her. They literally named her Victory.”

“We didn’t do anything on Victory Day last year did we?”

James shrugged, “I hid in the library but I don’t know what you and Nate did. My dad always has to do a speech – and sometime my Uncle Ron or Aunt Hermione will do one too. So will Professor Longbottom. And my entire family is here – it’s just awkward.”

“Did you used to come to Hogwarts for Victory Day before you were a student?”

James shook his head, “I went to a muggle primary school, so I was usually in school. Al and Lily always come – they and the rest of my cousins are all home-schooled by my Gran – with help from whoever isn’t working that day, it’s always kind of chaotic…”

“Why did you go to a muggle primary school and they don’t?”

James blushed lightly, “I was a – late bloomer magically, so to speak. All my cousins displayed magic much earlier but I didn’t, so mum and dad put me into a muggle school in case I turned out to be a squib…”

Serena giggled, “And now you’re one of the best in our year…”

The duo quickly joined Nate at the Gryffindor table and were pleasantly surprised to discover that they had about an hour until they would head down with the rest of the students to go and watch the match. They each filled up their plates and filled Nate in on their early morning, while Nate happily rejoiced in the fact that every Saturday that also had a Quidditch match they would have off from training.

Nate mumbled, spluttering toast crumbs everywhere, “We still have training on Hogsmeade Weekends though…at least next year when we can go into Hogsmeade we will be able to go in the after. Apparently, Hufflepuff’s training changes to the Friday evenings on those weekends.”

James shrugged, “We can’t go into Hogsmeade for a year yet so I’m not really too bothered – it all could change next year…”

Nate rolled his eyes, “Yea, yeah – just letting you know what Sarah said…”

Time passed relatively quickly and soon the Hogwarts students were following the same path that the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw players had left about half an hour earlier. They made their way up into the stands, making sure that they good seats in order to fully support Dominique who was making her Hogwarts Quidditch debut. James let out a snort of laughter when he spotted Teddy and Victoire, a little way down the row. Teddy’s hair was stripped yellow and black, just like always when Hufflepuff played but it was Victoire that looked the most out of place. She had charmed her scarf so that half of it was her typical Ravenclaw blue and silver with the other half yellow and black, showing her support for her sister.

Moments later, the two teams were introduced.

“Welcome to the first Quidditch Match of the Year! Now last year Hufflepuff finished in fourth place with a total of 300 points and Ravenclaw came in third with 330 points! Can they each turn their luck around? And here come the Hufflepuff team!”

The Hufflepuff team walked out of the dressing room, assembling into formation on their side of the pitch. Even from this distance, James could see that Dominique had her game face on.

“Firstly Keeper Sophie Benjamin, followed by Beaters; Captain Harry Carlton and Daniel Day, they are followed by Chasers Jason Kloss, Katie Spelman and new to the team Dominique Weasley. Finally, Seeker Karla Montez! And here come the Ravenclaw’s!”

The Ravenclaw team walked out and it was clear that they hadn’t needed to make any changes to their line-up that year.

“So, Firstly we have Keeper Kyle Ewart, sorry Kyle never am sure how to pronounce your name – anyway, he’s followed by Beaters and Twins Samantha Parker and Josh Parker, who are followed by Chasers Alissa Thompson, Captain Melissa Gregory and Marcus Spark. Last but not least, Seeker Warrick Spaton!”

Madam Hooch gestured for the two Captains to shake hands. 

“Mount your brooms, please!”

A moment later, Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her shiny silver whistle, causing fourteen brooms to rise up. Then the balls were released and the final match was in motion.  
“And the Quaffle is immediately taken by Thompson who passes to Spark who passes to – no! He’s dropped it straight into Weasley’s arms! Weasley moves towards the hoops, passes to Spelman and back to Weasley! To Kloss! Spelman! And Spelman SCORES! 10 Points to Hufflepuff! Weasley does show some great promise! Well, of course it is! She’s a Weasley after-all! And the Quaffle is back in play! Thompson, to Spark, to Gregory and back to Thompson who aims and SCORES! 10 points to Ravenclaw!”

Nate leaned close so that Serena and James could hear him, “Both teams look good – they’re quick. We need to get quicker. This match is probably not going to be a long one.”

“Dominique looks good.” Serena said smiling, noticing that James had proud smile on his face.

James nodded, “Yeah she does…”

“And wait! Have our two seekers already seen the snitch! It has been a fast moving game but I wasn’t expecting it to be this fast! No – wait Weasley has just scored! Go girl! Hufflepuff is in 20 points to Ravenclaw on 10 points! And it looks like Spaton and Montez are still in pursuit of the snitch! And it’s Spark to Thompson and to – Yes! Captain Melissa Gregory SCORES! It’s even! What a close match this is turning out to be! It looks like both teams have been training really hard to improve on last year’s scores!”

The crowd in the stands opposite to where James, Nate and Serena were ducked as both seekers screeched in a hair pin turn over their heads.

“Now that was close! And – Weasley to Spelman to Kloss – back to Weasley and back to Spelman – who SCORES! Hufflepuff now have 30 points! But wait Montez and Spaton take a dive and they’re reaching out and it’s – MONTEZ with the Snitch! 150 point to Hufflepuff! Overall we have 180 points to Hufflepuff and 20 points to Ravenclaw! Goes to show just how important those snitches are! What a game that has been! Spelman scored twice, and Weasley, Thompson and Gregory each scored! Kyle Ewart – sorry once again – and Sophie Benjamin guarded their hoops like the pros today and lets not ignore the work of our beaters!”

James glanced down the row to see Victoire jumping up and down cheering for her sister. She didn’t look too put out that Ravenclaw had lost but it was clear that her love of Dominique trumped her lof her house any day.

As it should.


	7. Quidditch Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty pleased to discover that I was correct in my assumption that Teddy would be a Hufflepuff and the Headboy. While I have made James a year older than in canon, I'm still pleased I got his house right and the age difference is more important later on in the story.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work x

When Serena’s alarm buzzed at 6am on a Saturday morning she had to force herself to actually get up and not to just bury herself down under the vast layers of blankets and quilts that she was slowly gaining. The alarm, a small muggle device that Professor Flitwick had helped her to charm to that it would work at Hogwarts (only for Nate and James to ask for one to), finally stopped buzzing when she slapped her small hand down on to it.

She really hated mornings.

It was cold blustery mornings like these that made Serena question why she had decided to join the Quidditch team. 

It was true that Gryffindor Tower was not exactly a pleasant place to be during windy, even just blustery, weather. The wind would whoosh and whistle, twirling and circling the turrets of the tower making it damn near impossible to sleep. Which is exactly what had happened that night.

Rubbing her eyes with her hands, she sat up slowly in bed keeping one of the blankets, a gift from her grandmother the previous Christmas, wrapped tightly around her small frame. Moving slowly she tugged open the curtains to her bed slightly and peered out of the window next her little section of the room.

It looked like a day where she definitely did not want to be in the air.

Sighing she stood from her bed, still keeping the blanket wrapped tight around her, and made her way over to her trunk. She quickly grabbed a pair of black Quidditch breeches, her black long sleeve base-layer, two pairs of brightly coloured stripy knee length socks and her underwear, before quickly darting towards the bathroom to get changed. Even though it was incredibly early, Serena didn’t want to risk one of her dorm-mates waking up and seeing her half naked.

Once she was dressed and her contacts were in, she pulled her curling blonde hair up into a messy ponytail before making sure that she had everything she could possibly need in her sports bag.

Clothes for after practice? Check.

Shampoo, Conditioner and Shower Gel? Check?

Towels? Check.

Shoes? Check.

Training Jersey? Check.

Gloves? Check.

Shin and Arm pads? Check.

Nodding to herself, she pulled her Quidditch boots, a hoodie and wrapped a Gryffindor scarf securely around her neck. She shouldered her sports bag before reaching into her trunk and pulling out her broomstick. She couldn’t help but grin as she remembered her parent’s reaction to their daughter, someone who they thought existed only in books and on her laptop, was interested in sport. Serena couldn’t name a single player on the football team that her dad supported but she could name all of the current players in the British and Irish League plus a few others from around the world. Therefore, it hadn’t necessarily been too surprising when her dad had given her the money to buy herself a broom, he would do anything to support his daughter in her sport.

What her dad wasn’t aware of, was pricing within the wizarding world was very different to that of the muggle world. Therefore, he had accidently given her far too much money to convert into Galleons (so much so that she had actually asked Mr Bill Weasley to help her set up a vault at Gringotts). Her dad had just assumed that because sports equipment was so expensive in the muggle world (or as her mother called it: the normal world) that it would be the same in the wizarding world.

Not that she was complaining.

So, she shouldered her Firebolt Supreme, she had been told that the Bulgarian National Team had used these brooms in the world cup the previous year, but really she had just fallen in love with James and Dominique’s brooms.

Over the summer she had been able to actually fly their brooms over the Devonshire countryside and had instantly fallen in love with the dark ebony broom, it was sleek and elegant and most importantly, wicked fast. Therefore, when she discovered that she had enough money to actually buy her own she had, quite literally, jumped at the chance.  
Down in the common room she sped up her pace to catch up with James who was just about to exit the common room. 

“Hey! Wait up!”

James turned and smiled once he spotted Serena, “Morning…”

“Morning to you too. Where’s Nate?”

“He’s up in Spencer’s dorm…”

“Is everything okay?”

James shrugged, “He stayed up there last night…Spencer was helping him with that Potions essay and apparently he fell asleep and no one could be bothered to wake him.”

Serena blinked, “So…they’re both still asleep?”

“According to Wes, yeah they are – Wes dorms with Spencer while Benj is in the other 4th Year dorm. They headed down a couple of minutes before you appeared.”

As soon as the pair stepped outside, they each tugged their hoodies even tighter around their bodies. James buried his nose deeper into the oversized hoodie that was half hidden beneath his thick Gryffindor scarf. Serena looked down at the ground as they made their way through the grounds and down to the pitch, choking out a laugh once she spotted the tops of James’ socks above his boots, which would usually be covered by his shin pads.

James looked at her curiously, “What?”

“You’re wearing pink socks.”

James rolled his eyes, “I like pink – and they’re pink and blue stripped actually – why? Does that surprise you?”

“No – I know you like pink – I mean, who doesn’t? But – it just surprised me…”

Rolling his eyes, James pushed the Gryffindor changing room door open allowing Serena to enter first. Once inside they noticed that Wes and Benj were the only two inside.

“Hey, where’s Sarah?”

Wes nodded in the direction of the pitch, “Outside – apparently we are starting this morning off with a run, so don’t put your pads or gloves on.”

Serena threw her bag into her self-claimed cubby hole. There were actually four changing rooms at the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, despite what most students thought. After the war, when the pitch was being reconstructed, each of the houses were given their own changing rooms. The rooms were small, featuring a small square room that had a door leading into the tent where all of the teams walked onto the pitch, and the door to the outside world. The two doors only admitted Professor’s and current members of the houses Quidditch Team. The small square room had an ‘L’ shaped bench along the back wall and up to the doorway into the shower rooms. Against the wall leading into the tent was a small white-board. In the shower room there were 7 showers and the Gryffindor’s had all claimed a shower for themselves. This meant that they often left shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in their own showers. Each player had their own cubby hole on the opposite wall where they stored their sports bags and brooms when they weren’t needed.  
James was just unwrapping his scarf from around his neck, although he had decided to keep his black gloves on, when Sarah came back into the changing room.

“Good Morning!”

James rolled his eyes, “You are way too chipper for 7 am…”

Sarah laughed, “Yeah, maybe I am – but next Saturday is our first game of the Year and I want to win. We all saw that Hufflepuff have seriously improved on their game since last year, Weasley has been a very smart addition to that team. But this is my final year and my first as Captain, so every game counts. Quidditch is more than a game to me – it’s pretty much my life…”

Wes chuckled as he stood up, “That’s kind of sad you know?”

Sarah laughed nodding, “I am aware – now lets start shall we? Today, we’re going to – wait…where’s Spencer? And Nate?”

Wes glanced at James and Serena who shrugged before turning and facing Sarah, “They were both asleep when I left – Spence was helping Nate with some essay last night and they both fell asleep…”

“So – they’re late?”

“Er…yeah…”

Sarah squared her shoulders, “Right then – we’ll get going shall we? We’re gonna run two laps of the pitch, and then we’re gonna come back in here, grab our brooms and get to work…James, Serena – we’re gonna work on some manoeuvres and some passes into the hoops – we’re so much better than we were a few weeks ago but we can get better still – Benj – try and stop us…”

Benj grinned, “My pleasure…”

“Wes and – well when Nate and Spence show up, the three of you are going to work on some guarding moves. Carlton and Day are good – but they were focused on protecting their own seeker – which ultimately won them the match – so you guys are good on the offensive, lets do some practice on defence…now let’s get going…”

The five players exited the Gryffindor dressing room and out into the communal tent. The tent itself was barren of any items but it did have a nice warming charm placed on it. Once outside, James shivered and pulled the sleeves of his hoodie that he had thankfully left on, down over his gloves as the five of them set of at a jog before slowly speeding up. They didn’t go at a full run, they didn’t need to as the entire sport took place on brooms up in the air. Running was more of conditioning activity. It helped to build and sustain the stamina that was needed to play long games of Quidditch.

It wasn’t long until they were up in the air on their brooms. James, Serena and Sarah had been working hard on the different manoeuvres that they could utilize in their game, as well as the way they moved and interacted with each other. Benj actually seemed to be enjoying the fact that he was stopping the three from scoring, while it seemed that Wes was just flying around the pitch aimlessly as Nate nor Spencer had actually shown up.

Just after 11 am Sarah called an end to the practice and everyone could see just how angry she was that Nate and Spencer hadn’t turned up. It was about half an hour later, when everyone had emerged from the showers that Spencer and Nate finally made their way down and into the changing rooms. 

James shared a look with Wes once he had pulled his head through his clean hoodie, his hair ruffled and cheeks pink from the steaming hot shower. James, Wes, Benj and Serena began to quickly shove their things into their sports bags, not paying attention to where or what exactly they put into their bags. They were all just in a hurry to leave the changing rooms before Sarah started in on Nate and Spencer.

The door was just swinging shut when they heard Sarah.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LATE YOU ARE?”


	8. Serena's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that has read, commented and left kudos on this work xx
> 
> Remember to check out http://throughthewitchesglass.tumblr.com/

The next morning, Serena found herself being pulled towards the Room of Requirement not long after breakfast by Nate, while James had disappeared with Dominique and Kayla as soon as breakfast was over.

“You know, no one needs to actually do anything for my birthday…”

Nate shrugged, “You’re our friend – of course we know we don’t need to – but we want to – that’s what being a friend is about p or so I’m told…”

Serena rolled her eyes, “Who’s idea was it really?”

“Dominique and Victoire’s – I took James and Teddy’s lead in not arguing with them.”

“Probably a wise move. But I’m 13 – it’s not like it’s an important birthday.”

Nate chuckled, “I know but – well, just think what they’ll do for everyone’s 17th – I mean, we didn’t go to Teddy’s party last year…”

“James said it was pretty cool but that because it was all family, sparks flew – literally – as Rose and Roxanne started fighting and all the accidental magic went a bit haywire.”

“Of course it did – it wouldn’t be a gathering of the Weasley’s and Potter’s without something going wrong.”

“And what do you know about gatherings of Weasley’s and Potter’s?”

“Admittedly not a lot – but from what I’ve read in the papers…”

“You should know better than to believe everything you read in the papers – especially in regards to James and his family.”

“Do you think it must be weird? I mean – knowing that wherever you go in the wizarding world – everyone knows exactly who you are, who your family are and are so interested in everything you do?”

“Have you asked James that?”

Shrugging, Nate replied, “Kind of – but I mean – he always brushes it off as something that annoys him but that he’s used too. That it annoys him when they make stuff up but he’s kind of used to people recognising him and coming up to him in…but really, what is it really like?”

“I can’t answer that question Nate – my parents are accountants – pretty sure that people in our year in Gryffindor don’t know who I am…”

“Now that isn’t true – they think you’re the girl who is keeping them from getting close to James…”

Serena giggled, “I wish I had that power – but I am not getting in their way – they scare me slightly, if they make a move, I’m outta the way before they can even say James…”

Nate chuckled, “I know what you mean…”

Serena glanced sideways as they continued towards the Room of Requirement, “Anyway – how angry was Sarah yesterday?”

Nate groaned, “She was pissed – really pissed. Said we were letting the entire team down and that Spence and I have a lot of work to do to make it up to her – especially if we lose the match next weekend.”

Serena nodded, “She did just get angrier and angrier as practice went on – Wes tried to wake you both up but neither were responding and he –rightly so – didn’t want to piss her off by being late.”

“Trust me that is the last time that I stay with Spence the night before practice – I mean we didn’t even hear his alarm…but – I never asked yesterday because Sarah terrified me – but did you – and James I guess – have a good practice?”

Serena nodded as they neared the Room of Requirement, “Yeah – it was absolutely freezing though. I am not looking forward to practice when it gets even colder out…”

Nate shivered involuntarily, “At least after the match on Saturday we don’t have training until after Christmas…”

“But it almost always colder in January!”

“Cast a warming charm on your clothes…”

“I hate it when you – of all people – think logically…”

Nate sniggered and pushed open the door allowing Serena to enter first, knowing that as soon as she was spotted, Dominique would had thrown herself at her. 

Dominique did not disappoint.

While Dominique and Victoire dragged Serena over to the bean bags where Felicity was curled up, Nate glanced around at the other occupants of the room. Teddy was chattering away with some other Hufflepuff’s, ones Nate knew that had tutored Serena and James in Herbology, particularly during their first year. Nate bit back a laugh when he saw that James was deep in conversation with Kayla. Despite the fact that Kayla still had a raging crush on James, it was clear that James had decided to act oblivious and to continue forward as if he didn’t know.

Nate moved forward and was surprised when Teddy pulled him into a one armed hug.

“Hey Nate!”

“Hey!”

“You remember Becks and Toby, right?”

Nate nodded, “Yep…you tutor James and Serena in Herbology…”

Becks grinned, “We do – they’re getting better and better every day…”

Nate rolled his eyes, “Not according to Professor Longbottom…”

Teddy snorted, “Longbottom is overly harsh on James – I know he keeps comparing him to Harry. It really threw James for a loop this summer because Longbottom was so different outside of school than he is in it – well to Jamie at least.”

Becks frowned, “He’s really that different?”

“Uhuh…yeah he is – it’s really weird actually. And because he’s like that, Jamie doesn’t want to say anything to anyone about it – trust me, any time we so much as mention how the Professors are treating us – good or bad – we get told this long twisting tale about Severus Snape who was a cruel and heartless teacher but actually wanted to protect Harry because he was in love with Harry’s mother – so we shouldn’t be so quick to judge teachers. In my opinion that is a load of bull but no one will dare say it to any of their faces so we shut up and put up…”

Toby grinned, “You? Shut up and put up? I didn’t think you had it in ya mate…”

Teddy playfully punched his friend in the arm as Nate looked around the room once more, his eyes settling on his younger sister.

“What’s Fliss doing here? Not that she shouldn’t be but – and wait – is that Jinx in her lap?”

Teddy glanced across to where Felicity was sat tucked up onto one of the bean bags stroking Jinx, while Victoire, Dominique and Serena were chattering away at her side, “Yeah its Jinx – she apparently followed James down when he went to go and pick up Serena’s presents – and Vic has been trying to get Felicity to open up more – from what I can work out it’s working.”

“Victoire is actually getting Fliss to speak more?”

“Don’t sound so surprised!”

Nate chuckled running a hand through his hair, “It’s not that I’m surprised – it’s just…well, since our parents died she’s been really quiet – and I get it I do – but it scares me sometimes, so it’s always a pleasant surprise to see her interacting with people…”

Toby nodded, “I get that – and if it makes you feel any better Brandon is pretty much the life and sole of the current first year Hufflepuff’s…”

Nate chuckled, “Brandon wasn’t affected as much by it – I mean he was but – eh…me and Fliss were with our parents when they died – I lucked out in coming to Hogwarts so soon after, meeting James and Serena – but Fliss has been rattling around Diagon Alley with our Grandmother, so naturally she withdrew a little more…”

Teddy tightened his arm around Nate in a comforting squeeze, “I’m – really sorry to hear that Nate. I didn’t…”

“Come on!! It’s time for presents! Stop nattering and get over here…” Victoire called out over her shoulder as the girls and James moved over to make room for Becks, Toby, Teddy and Nate.

“Come on then – you heard her…”


	9. Gryffindor V Hufflepuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work x

At 5am on Saturday 21st November, James pushed himself up so that he was sat cross-legged on his bed, wrapping his Gryffindor blanket tight around his small frame. He had been awake for hours, his mind running through everything he possibly knew about Quidditch in preparation for the match against Hufflepuff that morning. He knew that realistically he should have tried to at least get a couple more hours of sleep but his brain had had a different idea.

Reaching over, James grabbed his wand and the textbook that was beside him on the bedside table. Whispering ‘Lumos’, James lit up his space hidden by the curtains that surrounded his bed and opened the Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook to the correct page and began to read through the chapter on Gargoyles. It really was a testament to how nervous James was for the match that he was reading his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.

About an hour had passed before James jumped as a head poked through the curtain hangings. James let out a deep breath when he realised that it was just Nate. Moving his feet, careful not to dislodge Jinx, he gestured for Nate to climb up onto the bed.

“Merlin’s beard! Are you trying to give me heart attack?”

Nate rolled his eyes, “You’re too young - how long have you been awake?”

“Hours - you?”

“Same - what if I actually hurt someone?

“What if I get hurt?”

“Madam Hill will fix you up.”

“Then the same will happen if you hurt someone…”

“Do you think Serena is nervous?”

“Of course she is...who wouldn’t be? This is our first Quidditch match of the year....of course she’s nervous…”

“James -I don’t mean to overstep - but did you eat yesterday?”

James rolled his eyes but nodded, “I did - went down to the kitchen’s last night - and I had breakfast and lunch with you…”

“I know it’s just…”

James smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry about because if I’m honest I was planning on working through dinner but Teddy came and found me.”

“Sorry. I just didn’t want…”

“Me to faint like I did after the Defence exam in June? I know - and I’m working on it Nate - trust me, I am. Sometimes I just need a reminder, so thanks…”

“For?”

“For being my friend…”

“Are you gonna start singing?”

“Huh?”

“I thought you were raised partially in the muggle world? Anyway, it’s from a musical - about these witches, one of them is green and is thought to be evil...the other is this stereotypical blonde - they become friend - and well, you know what it really doesn’t matter, but it’s a song from a popular muggle musical...how have you lived your entire life not knowing this?”

James shrugged, “I don’t think I’ve ever actually gone and done something muggle - I mean I read muggle books, my dad has car and my Grandad is fascinated by muggles - but I was raised primarily in the wizarding world. And anyway, how do you know so much about musicals?”

“At least you know what a musical is - and I have a sister - please tell me you know what Disney is? And the internet? Mobile phones?”

James chuckled quietly, aware that their dorm mates still wouldn’t be awake, “Yes, I know what Disney, the internet and mobile phones are - haven’t had any practical experience with them though - although Disney in particular fascinates me. I asked Kayla about it but she said it was kind of babyish…”

Nate shook his head, “I mean - I can see what some people think it is - but it really isn’t. You’ll have to talk to Fliss about it actually, she loves Disney. Trust me that is like the one topic that will actually get her talking...and because we all love our sister and I guess because we went to Disney World, in Florida with our parents a couple of weeks before they died, me, Bran, Xan and Spence kind of indulge her…”

“And it has nothing to do with the fact that she is your only sister…”

Nate rolled his and ushed James on the shoulder. But before he could reply James charmed muggle alarm, a gift from Serena, started to beep. Sighing the two boys slowly disentangled themselves from the bedding and the curtains, unfortunately waking Jinx in the process. Nate dived forward when his alarm started to beep, earning muttered groans from Kent and Chris followed by a string of muttered swear words as Nate crashed into the bedside table.

James let out a snort of laughter before disappearing into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Once he emerged,nate disappeared into the bathroom after him. James quickly rummaged through his trunk pulling out his match gear that he had placed there to avoid taking them back and forth between the castle and the Quidditch pitch. A pair of white Quidditch breeches, a white undershirt, his jumper and socks. He quickly stripped out of his pyjamas and pulled on his Quidditch clothes just as Nate emerged from the bathroom. He quickly pulled on his Quidditch jumper, his hair ruffled as it popped through the top. He reached over for his sports bag pulling out of all the current contents, despite the fact that had gone through the contents the night before. He knew he had left his shampoo, conditioner and shower gel down in the changing room, so his bag would be a little lighter than normal.

He re-folded the t-shirt, hoodie and jeans and placed them down at the bottom the bag, before folding his towel and placing it on top his clothes. He tucked a pair of green and pink striped socks into his trainers, placing them in the gap he had left next to his clothes. Tucked into one of the side pockets were little bags of mixed nuts that his mother had sent him, with a note about the various health benefits and how she had eaten them when she was on the Harpies. It was probably the latter section of her note that had caused to put the snacks in his bag but to never actually eat them. In the opposite pocket he had his self-refillable water bottle. He then folded up his Gryffindor robes and placed them right on top of his towel, placing his gloves and pads on top before zipping the bag shut. Sitting back on his bed he pulled on his socks and boots, sitting up and taking a deep breath. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Nate who looked up and met his eyes with a shaky smile and a nod. The pair stood up, each grabbing their sports bags and broomsticks moving towards the door and leaving the dorm room in silence.

They walked in silence down to the common room where the rest of the Quidditch Team were waiting. The duo settled down onto one of the sofas either side on Serena who smiled warmly at the pair.

“Good morning…”

“Morning…”

“I need tea…”

“James - you’re turning into a tea junkie, you know that right?”

“I’m aware…”

“When did you two get up?”

Nate shrugged, “Early...we talked about Disney for a bit…”

Serena’s smile lit up, “I love Disney! Why were you talking about Disney? Why didn’t you talk to me about Disney? It’s like my favourite place on earth!”

Nate chuckled, “We started out talking about Wicked - the musical - and James had never heard of it so I asked whether he had at least heard of Disney - which thankfully he has - and I’ll tell you the same thing I told James, talk to Fliss about Disney. Seriously, it’s like her favourite topic - the one thing that will actually get her talking…”

“She talks to Victoire quite a bit.”

“She does - so stop worrying as much, she’s settling in and doing well. You’ll just annoy her more if you continue to worry about her like this. Apparently, she was hiding from Brandon earlier in the week, which made Teddy and Dom laugh - but seriously she’s fine…”

“Urggh… don’t want to think about all that today. So, when do we get to eat?”

“Soon - Sarah and Benj are just talking over some last minute stuff and then we can go eat…” 

A few minutes later the Gryffindor team made their way down to the Great Hall, which was currently only occupied by the Hufflepuff team. Dominique waved over at James, Nate and Serena who grinned and waved back, causing Spencer to mutter about fraternizing with the enemy with a smile on his face.

The seven players settled down at the Gryffindor table and began to eat the food that appeared in front of them. James was well aware that Nate was giving him the odd glance to make sure that he was in fact actually eating the food that was in front of him. But in this instance, James knew he had to eat in order to not disappoint people. It was easy to forget to eat when he was focused on his studies, eating wasn’t technically a reason to better his grades, but it was a way to better his Quidditch performance. So, really at that point in time Nate had nothing to worry about. 

James jumped when he felt a hand settle onto his shoulder, causing his team mates to laugh.

“Nervous Jamie?”

James smiled at the smooth voice that was easily recognisable as his Godbrother’s. He twisted standing as Teddy pulled him into a hug while ruffling his hair.

Sarah rolled her eyes and looked up at her classmate, “Trying to get the inside scoop on our plays?”

Teddy smirked as he released James, “Don’t need to - Hufflepuff are going to win. Dom will make sure of that…”

“Hey! You’re supposed to be my Godbrother!”

“But Dom’s a Hufflepuff - and my girlfriend’s sister - if you’d just…” Teddy trailed off laughing when James slapped him on the arm.

“I’m joking! But seriously - don’t Jamie - good luck today, I know you’ll kill it…”

“Thanks Teddy…”

“You’re welcome kid - now I’m going to eat some breakfast...see you out there…”

“See ya teddy…”

Teddy moved back across to the Hufflepuff table as James retook his seat in between Serena and Nate. The chatter in the Great Hall had grown and the players allowed themselves to revel in the familiar craziness of breakfast for a while before both the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Teams left the Great Hall to encouraging clapping amongst the bets about who would win the match.

The two teams split off as they each entered their respective changing rooms and it wasn’t long before the chatter of the other students and Professor’s could be heard up in the stands. They each pulled on their robes, lacing up the front before pulling on their shin and then their arms guards. As Benj pulled on his chest protector, the others were all pulling on their gloves and gathering around the whiteboard for Sarah’s pre-match briefing.

“Okay - our first match of the year and I have ever bit of faith in every single one of you to do what we have been training for and to win the match. Not gonna lie - Hufflepuff looked good against Ravenclaw - but I know that we can win this. Now, I’m not going to give an Oliver Wood worthy speech - but I do want to say this - let’s go kick some Hufflepuff butt!”

The group clapped and cheered, grabbing their brooms and leaving the dressing room. Once they were in the tent they assembled in order and waited for the signal from Madam Hooch. It was only minutes later when they walked out to almost deafening applause.

“And here come the Gryffindor Team - and what a fine team Rhodes has assembled. First up Keeper Benj Wright, followed by Beaters Nate Holland and Wes Dawson, followed by Chasers Captain Sarah Rhodes, Serena Taylor and James Potter - Finally, Seeker Spencer Holland! What a team that is! She got Potter - whose, I’m sure everyone is aware, mother was Gryffindor and Holyhead Harpies Chaser, Father was Gryffindor Seeker and Grandfather was Gryffindor Chaser! Can he live up to their…”

James stared forward setting his face into a determined one. He was not going to let anyone distract him from his task at hand and he would definitely not show any reaction to the pressure that was mounting.

“And the Hufflepuff’s - Keeper Sophie Benjamin, Beaters Daniel Day and Captain Harry Carlton, Chasers Jason Kloss, Katie Spelman and Dominique Weasley - Finally, Seeker Karla Montez! In the first match of the season, Hufflepuff won the match with the capture of the snitch, currently with 180 points to Ravenclaw’s 20. Can they keep up the lead? Lets see shall we….”

Sarah shook hands with Harry Carlton with a smile before stepping back. Moments later the two teams rose up into the air, the snitch and the bludgers were released, and on the sound of Madam Hooch’s whistle the Quaffle was thrown up in the air.

The match had begun.

Katie Spelman had taken possession of the Quaffle but was quickly intercepted by Sarah who passed in forwards to Serena, James soared up above just in time to capture the Quaffle as Serena threw it upwards. James streaked forward and passed to Sarah, who threw it through the right hoop. The roar of the Gryffindor's in the stands pushed the players forward and onwards.

James really wasn’t paying any attention to what the seeker’s or the beaters were doing, instead his sole focus was on the 5 other Chaser’s in the air.

It was about an hour after the match had begun and the scores were currently tied at 60 all. Sarah had scored three times, Serena twice and James once. For the Hufflepuff’s, Dominique, Katie and Jason had all scored two goals each. It was clear that both teams had hoped to win the match quickly, not that having a long match with lots of goals was a bad thing. Unlike in professional Quidditch, it was the total score of each match, goals and snitch catches, that determined the winner of the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup.

James accelerated forward and down noticing that Sarah and Serena were about to be sandwiched between Dominique and Katie. At Wes’ shout he ducked his head, feeling the rush of the bludger zoom over the top of his head. He glanced up and saw that Dominique had taken control of the Quaffle, but luckily for him she dropped it, allowing him to scoop it up, he soared up and just like he had in his try-out, batted into the right hoop with his broom.

“A Finborough Flick! Potter just pulled a, very nice by the way, Finborough Flick! Of course, we shouldn’t expect anything else from the son of the Chosen One and a Holyhead Harpies player! Oh and - wait! Wait! Taylor soars towards the goals and she’s scored! Taking advantage of the shock of Potter’s goal to score again! How very sneaky! Scores are 80 - 60 to Gryffindor!”

James glanced up in shock as Spencer and Karla Montez soared passed him and he thanked Merlin that he wasn’t a Chaser, before pushing forward towards Dominique who currently held the Quaffle. He dived slowly as she passed to Kloss who soared upwards placing the Quaffle through the left hoop.

The match wasn’t showing any signs of slowly down and despite Spencer and Montez’s quick pace moments earlier, it seemed that the Snitch had once again vanished from sight. Not that James was good at seeing in the first place. 

“James!”

Glancing sidewards, James just had enough time to catch the Quaffle from Sarah and immediately started flying towards the goal. He passed to Serena, who passed to Sarah, and back to Serena and finally to James who threw it squarely into the centre hoop.

It was clear that both teams were beginning to tire of the match. The rapid scoring of goals had slowed slightly another hour later. Hufflepuff were currently in the lead with 10 goals to Gryffindor’s 9 but there still wasn’t any sign of the Snitch.

It was clear that even the crowd were growing a little restless and in some cases, students had left the stands altogether. Many of the Slytherin students and even a few Ravenclaw’s had left, but at lul in the match James had been surprised to note that Fred was still in the stands. Over the previous summer, Fred had spent most of his time with his friends and had been overly quiet when he was with the family. It was a big change from how he was at Hogwarts. But for some reason, whether that be supporting his cousins or that he was planning something, Fred had stayed when his friends had left. Whatever the reason, it made James smile.

Sarah dipped and popped up, throwing the Quaffle cleanly through the right hoop, making the scores equal. Suddenly, a glimmer of something flickered on the other side of the pitch as Spencer ad Montez’s speed picked up. Caught up in the moment, James scored another goal through the right hoop. Soon after, all other action in the air stopped as they all watched the showdown between Spencer and Montez. They dipped and dived following the little winged ball. James cringed as the duo soared straight into one of the tall towers, that was currently housing the Headmaster, Professor Longbottom and a couple of Hufflepuff Seventh Years. The duo fell to the ground landing softly thanks to a cushioning charm. The other players flew down surrounding the two players. When Spencer raised his fist triumphantly, if a little groggily, the Gryffindor team cheered loudly and wildly.

“And Gryffindor win!! It’s 260 to 100!”


	10. The Twin's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work x

On the evening of Wednesday 2nd December, the group that was steadily increasing in numbers were gathering once again in the Room of Requirement, this time for Brandon and Felicity Holland’s birthday.

Victoire had been even more exact in her instructions of who was going to attend, when and for how long. It had taken Victoire a long time to convince Felicity to agree to having ‘a small gathering of people on her birthday’ as she had been adamantly against having a Birthday party, so Victoire was happy with what she got. 

That didn’t stop Victoire from going overboard slightly.

Nate, Spencer and Xander helped Teddy organise all of the presents so that it was clear as to who the presents were for, while James, Serena and Kayla moved some cushions around on the sofas and bean bags that had appeared when they had entered the room. James stopped to scratch Jinx behind the ears as she got settled on one of the bean bags. James had been surprised to find that Jinx was prowling about waiting for them to arrive and let her into the Room of Requirement. Victoire and Dominique were ensuring that Felicity and Brandon actually came to the ‘gathering of people’.

Kayla glanced across at the three brothers and asked softly, “Who’s older? Brandon or Felicity?”

Xander glanced up, “Brandon - by 20 minutes or so - why?”

Kayla shrugged, “No reason, I was just wondering…”

Nate rolled his eyes at Xander, “Don’t mind him Kayla, he’s just upset because whichever girl he’s seeing wasn’t invited…”

Xander pushed Nate teasingly, “Shut up - and Kayla, I’m sorry if I can across a bit harsh…”

Kayla smiled, “Don’t worry about it…”

Seconds later, Dominique and Brandon entered the Room of Requirement. Xander, Spencer and Nate surrounded their younger brother who couldn’t keep the smile off of his face.

Dominique moved over to where Kayla and Serena were stood, as James moved to go and talk to Teddy.

“Are Vic and Felicity not here yet?”

Serena shook her head, “Nope…”

Kayla glanced at her best friend, “Do you think Victoire is having to persuade her a little more?”

Dominique grinned, “Probably - but Vic likes a challenge, so they’ll be here…”

Teddy and James were sat on one of the sofas chatting aimlessly, occasionally glancing at the doorway to see if Victoire and Felicity had arrived. 

“You looking forward to going home for Christmas?”

James shrugged, “Not sure - not looking forward to the Ministry New Years Eve Ball but I guess I’m looking forward to seeing Al and Lily…”

Teddy chuckled, “That’s the spirit. And I don’t blame you for not wanting to go to the Ministry Ball - it’s one of dullest things I have ever had to experience.”

“Last year didn’t exactly make me want to go to any more…”

“Unfortunately Jamie - we both have to go - and soon Al will too…”

“Not for another two years!”

Teddy laughed, “Don’t worry - it will come round soon enough…”

James glanced up curiously at his godbrother, “Aren’t you applying for the Auror programme? So won’t you have to go to a lot more of these events…”

Teddy ran a hand through his hair, “If I even get into the programme…”

“Which you will…”

“Neither of us know that yet - it all depends on my NEWT results - but if I get into the programme, then probably yes, I will have to go to a lot more of these events - but probably not many more than I will when I graduate anyway...you won’t be any different you know? Being Harry and Ginny’s son and all…”

“Nope - no I refuse…”

Teddy laughed but before he could reply Victoire and Felicity walked in. Felicity looked a little overwhelmed as her brothers surrounded her but the small smile on her face showed that she was really okay. Dominique, Serena and Kayla moved to joined teddy and James at the sofas. Slowly, Felicity disentangled herself from her brothers arms as Victoire took her hand and led her over to where everyone was sat, the brothers following close behind. Felicity settled down into a bean bag and Jinx jumped from the one she was currently occupying and into Felicity’s lap.

James rolled his eyes, “My cat likes you better than she like me…”

Victoire smirked, “Most people like Fliss better than they like you…”

James rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out as Brandon settled down into the bean bag next to his twin. Victoire flitted over to go and collect the presents, calling out for Teddy and Xander to help her. It took a couple of trips back and forth but soon all of the presents sat in neat piles in front of Brandon and Felicity respectively. The pair looked up at everyone wide eyes before looking at the other before turning to look back at everyone else again.

“Stop it - you know it freaks us out when you do that.” Spencer said rolling his eyes.

Brandon looked up, “This is too much - we don’t need anything…”

Xander rolled his eyes, “Don’t try arguing...you’ll lose - so come on then, lets get unwrapping…”

The differences between the pairs unwrapping styles were vast. Brandon was quickly tearing through the wrapping papers, he was even shaking the wrapped gifts first. James and Teddy were struck by how similar it was to how Albus and Lily opened presents at Potter Manor before they would go to the Burrow on Christmas Day. Felicity, on the other hand, was opening each present with great care and it was clear that Spencer was having physically hold himself back from opening the presents for her.

When Felicity unwrapped a small present from Victoire, her eyes widened in surprise as she opened the little box to reveal a pair of silver earrings. Brandon leaned over so that he could get a better look before returning to ripping open his own presents.

“They’re pretty…”

Felicity rolled her eyes and slapped Brandon on the arm. She looked up at Victoire, her eyes shining, “They’re gorgeous but…”

“If you say it’s too much, I’ll slap you – well no I won’t but – You were saying how much you liked mine and well – I thought…”

“They’re perfect…Thank you…”

Xander rolled his eyes, “Yeah, Thanks Vic – Now our presents look rubbish in comparison…”

Felicity shook her head, “All you’re gifts are perfect…”

Spencer snorted, “That is said by someone who has already had 12 years of her brother’s horrendous attempts to buy her gifts…”

Felicity giggled but didn’t deny Spencer’s claim. Instead she slowly but surely continued to make her way through the pile of gifts. Her eyes widen in further shock when she finally unwrapped the present from James. It was a copy of a muggle book called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

James, nervous that she wouldn’t like her present, naturally began to babble, “I didn’t know whether you already had it – Nate was useless, but he was saying how much you like Disney – so I talked to my Aunt Audrey and she told me that while it wasn’t originally a Disney story it was adapted by Disney – though I’m not sure what that means – and she sent me that and I…”

“I love it…”

“Oh – you do?”

Felicity nodded and ran her fingertips down the spine of the book, “I love it – I don’t actually own a copy of it – well not anymore…”

Spencer rolled his eyes and stated dutifully, “I’m sorry I accidently ripped it in half…”

Felicity practically pulled the book to her chest in a hug, “Thank you James…”

James grinned while Nate continued to mutter about how his best friend was constantly showing him up, “You’re welcome…”


	11. Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work. Tomorrow (September 12th 2015), I go back to University for my second year. So, while uploads will be on time for 'Freshers Week' (14th September - 18th September 2015), after that there may be some delays to when upload (especially on Monday's which is my busiest day). 
> 
> I thank you for your continued support and understanding xx

Teddy groaned and buried his head underneath his pillow when he heard the shouts and screeches of Albus and Lily on Christmas morning. His spot on a cot on the floor in James’ room was remarkably comfy and he was sure it was way too early for any normal functioning human being to be awake. Even if it was Christmas.

And from the disgruntled grunt from James, it was clear that he was in agreement with Teddy.

The laughter and high pitched squeals from Albus and Lily were soon intermingled with the laughter and half-hearted attempts to quieten them from Ginny and Harry. Teddy tensed when the voices got louder, before everything became silent. He knew what that meant.

Seconds later the door burst open and Teddy grunted as Lily landed on top of him. At least Lily was lighter than Albus, who had landed squarely on James’ stomach.

“Merry Christmas! It’s Chrismas! Wake Up! Wake Up! It’s Christmas! Come on! I want to open presents!”

Teddy blinked up wearily and frowned when noticed that Ginny and Harry were both stood in the doorway smiling.

Traitors.

James’ voice was scratchy when he spoke, “I’m awake – we’re awake…now scram if you want us to actually get up…”

The speed at which Albus and Lily shot up and out of the door surprised James, Teddy, Harry and Ginny, the latter of which giggled as she muttered that that was what Bill and Charlie used to say when she woke them up on Christmas morning. She disappeared down the stairs to join Andromeda in the kitchen to make some hot cocoa.

Harry grinned, “Merry Christmas boys – now come on, up and at ‘em…We can’t hold Al and Lils’ back all day…”

He closed the door, giving the two boys some privacy as they each sat up slowly. Teddy glanced up at James who reaching towards the end of his bed for his thick woolly jumper.

“Merry Christmas Jamie…”

“Urggh…”

Teddy chuckled, “You were like them once, you know?”

“And so were you – in fact you taught us to be like that. So, really it’s your fault…”

“That’s a burden I must carry – now come on…”

Teddy pulled on his own jumper as James pulled on a pair a thick woollen socks, even tucking the bottoms of his pyjama pants into the bottom. Teddy stood from his bed and disappeared down the hall to the bathroom. Around 5 minutes later and the duo finally made their way down stairs into the family room which was glowing as Albus and Lily gathered around the presents that were under the Christmas tree. The presents under the tree were gifts from Harry, Ginny and Andromeda primarily. Although, there were a few presents from Teddy and James that year. 

James settled into the big squishy armchair that Jinx was curled up in. Jinx purred and settled herself down in James’ lap as he wrapped the old Gryffindor blanket around his frame. Teddy, meanwhile, settled down into the corner of the largest sofa in the room, moving a few of the overstuffed cushions so that he was sat more comfortably. Harry settled down onto the loveseat, attempting to stop Albus and Lily from opening any of the presents before Ginny and Andromeda joined them.

It was only minutes later that Ginny and Andromeda entered the family room, Ginny carrying a tray of mugs of hot chocolate. She quickly passed the hot beverage around, making sure to place an anti-spill charm on Albus and Lily’s before setting them down on the coffee table. James muttered thanks and wrapped his hands around the warm mug. It was no secret by now that James loved tea but it was undeniable how much he liked hot chocolate, especially in the winter.

“Mum! Can we start opening presents now!”

“Please!”

Ginny glanced over at Harry rolling her eyes, “Why do they always ask for my permission and not yours? Huh?”

Harry chuckled, his emerald green eyes glistening in the firelight, “Because you’re the strict parent…”

Ginny laughed taking a sip of her own hot chocolate, while Andromeda flicked her wand, causing the presents under the tree to carefully fly to the ground next to their recipient.

Ginny smiled gratefully as he two youngest children beamed up at her. Ginny sighed and nodded, “Go on then…”

She didn’t even need to finish her sentence before Albus and Lily were tearing through the wrapping paper, squeals of delight and thanks were thrown around the room with joy. Harry, Ginny, Andromeda, Teddy and James took a slower more deliberate plan of action while opening their presents. The types of presents were vast and varied, from Quidditch supplies, to books, clothing and concert tickets. 

Teddy lifted one of the largest boxes up which was wrapped in blue, yellow, green and red spotted wrapping paper and caught James’ eye. James had the exact same sized and wrapped present as him. James picked his up and the each tore into the wrapping paper to reveal what looked to be a muggle cooler with a piece of parchment stuck to the top, which read:

‘There is a charm on the cooler which will keep the product fresh for three weeks. Don’t eat them all at once. Merry Christmas, Love Xan, Spence, Nate, Brandon and Felicity x’

Teddy and James carefully opened the boxes and each let out a surprised, yet grateful laugh once they saw what the coolers contains. The coolers were filled, in a semi-organised manner, with various treats, cakes and sweets from the Holland’s café/ice cream parlour in Diagon Alley.

Ginny looked at the boys curiously, “What is it? And who is it from?”

Teddy glanced up, “It’s filled with cakes and sweets and stuff…from the Holland’s…”

Andromeda glanced sideways at her grandson in surprise, “As in…Dorothy Holland?”

“Er – if she has five grandchildren called Xander, Spencer, Nate, Brandon and Felicity, then yeah. Why? You know her?”

Andromeda nodded, looking thoughtful, “I went to Hogwarts with her – she was in Hufflepuff. Married a Slytherin named Christopher Holland – though he died several years ago. I didn’t know you were friends with her grandchildren…”

Teddy shrugged, “Nate is one of James’ best friends and Vic has kind of taken Felicity in under her wing – but they’re all really close…”

James nodded as he closed the lid of his cooled and set in down on the floor next to his other presents, “Yeah – they’re all pretty cool – and because their Grandmother owns a café in Diagon Alley, we always get loads of delicious things…”

Harry blinked in surprise, “You mean the Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour?”

James nodded while taking the last gulp of his hot chocolate, “Yeah – it’s really cool. We went there over the summer with Vic and Dom…”

After they had all had breakfast, curtesy of Harry (while Ginny stayed well away from the kitchen), the family all quickly got dressed before assembling on front of the fireplace in the kitchen. While Potter Manor had 3 fireplaces, only the one in the kitchen was connected to the Floo Network.

“Now, Lily you follow Mum, then Al and then James, Teddy and Andromeda while I make sure everything here is secure…you ready…”

It took around 10 minutes for everyone to arrive from Potter Manor and for once it was clear that they were the last to arrive. Teddy immediately made his way over to Victoire, while Albus and Lily were quickly pulled into the family room and absorbed into the loud and rambunctious chatter from the rest of the family, with Harry, Ginny and Andromeda following after them.

James, however, stayed in the kitchen and poured himself a rather large mug of tea, settling into one of the chairs at the dining table while his Grandmother cooked.

“How’re you, deary?”

James smiled and replied once he had taken a sip of his tea, “I’m good Grandma…how’re you?”

Molly smiled and ruffled his hair as she passed, “I’m good. How’s school been? You got any detentions? Pulled any of those pranks that your Grandfather and Uncle were famous for…”

James had to stop himself rolling his eyes at his Grandma’s recollection of the past but shook his head and replied warmly, “Nah – pulling pranks are more Fred’s thing than mine. I’m too busy…”

Molly brushed away a tear before shaking her head and bustling around the kitchen, “Too busy to pull pranks? Your Uncle and Grandfather were never too busy to pull pranks – it’s in your blood…”

James shrugged, “I’d rather focus on my classwork, Quidditch and Hogwarts Weekly than pull pranks…” 

Molly smiled half-heartedly, “Well, whatever makes you happy dear. Now, come over here and help be move these dishes. I would use magic but I’m not as steady as I used to be…”


	12. James' Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one but I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Thanks for reading, commenting and leaving kudos on this work x

By the time of James’ birthday on January 22nd, the weather had taken a drastic turn for the worst. Herbology lessons for all students had been cancelled and the Care of Magical Creatures lessons had been moved inside with not exactly stellar results. The entirety of the Black Lake had frozen over and the paths were so dangerous that so far 50 students had ended up in the hospital wing because they had fallen.

What that meant for James and Serena, much to Nate’s amusement, that they would wrap themselves up a variety of layers, jumper, sweatshirts, hoodies, robes and blankets before curling up into a corner of the Library or the Common Room and reading a book. In James’ case, there were normally copious amounts of tea involved, which was happily brought to him by one of the house-elves. The rest of the Gryffindor students found it highly amusing that James was curled up in the corner of room like an old man. 

Therefore, it had taken much persuasion (and maybe even a little bit of bribery and blackmail) to convince James to come to the Room of Requirement for his birthday celebrations. In reality, James wouldn’t actually refuse to go to the Room of Requirement as he feared (and respected) his cousins too much to refuse. They were part-Veela after all.

When James arrived at the Room of Requirement with Nate and Serena he was surprised to see that all of the Holland’s were in attendance. He had come to expect Felicity and Spencer to be there, and of course Nate, but Xander and Brandon were a pleasant surprise.

Although it looked like they weren’t exactly there for James. 

Nate frowned in confusion as Teddy wandered over to them wrapping an arm around James’ smaller frame and ruffling his hair, “Happy birthday kiddo…”

James rolled his eyes but didn’t shy away from Teddy’s hug, “Thanks…what’s going on over there?”

Teddy grinned, “Felicity got detention…”

Nate blinked, “She what? Even I haven't gotten detention yet this year...”

“She got detention…and it was pretty epic too…”

James turned to face Teddy as Nate stood frozen in shock, “You were there? What happened?”

Teddy nodded, “Yeah…I was there and if I’d seen it she wouldn’t have got detention but Nev- Longbottom,” the slight slip caused James to laugh, “saw too and had to do something. Though he also gave the other kid detention too…”

Nate blinked, “Other? Other kid? What happened Teddy?”

“Apparently this Slytherin kid has been bullying Felicity – no neither me nor Vic knew about it…and he said something earlier that caused Felicity to snap – she sent a particularly good bat bogey hex his way – do doubt due to Vic teaching her…Longbottom looked like he was trying to refrain from laughing knowing that it is Gin’s speciality hex – anyway, a couple of the other students told Longbottom how this kid has been bullying Felicity, so they both got detention for Monday and lost 20 house points – but really it could have been worse. And Felicity can’t wipe that smile off her face…”

Nate’s frown deepened, “Why didn’t I know she was being bullied?”

“To be fair – I don’t think anyone did – well other than those in the first year – Ravenclaw and Slytherin have flying lessons so I’m guessing it mostly went down there…”

Nate nodded and Teddy guided the two of them over to where everyone else was gathered around on the sofas and bean bags. Felicity looked up when they settled down into their seats, the smile that Teddy mentioned was undeniable.

“Happy Birthday James…”

“Thanks – I hear we should be afraid of your bat bogey hex now as well…really Vic did you have to teach her?”

Victoire grinned, “The student becomes the master…”

Nate stared at Felicity before sighing, “Why didn’t you say that you were being bullied? We would have done something…”

Felicity rolled her eyes, surprising those that didn’t now her that well yet, “I can look after myself you know – and what would you have done? Any of you? Hexed a first year? That would just have been pathetic…I don’t need you lot to be overprotective idiots – I can handle myself – and if you don’t remember that I’ll hex you. Now, it is James’ birthday and I want cake…”

The Holland brothers just stared at each other in shock while Serena and Dominique moved so that they were sat either side of Felicity.

Dominique grinned, “I definitely like you…now James, you heard her…so let’s start unwrapping presents shall we?”

James laughed but did as Dominique said, “You are bossy today…”

Dominique shrugged grinning, “Let’s be honest – I’m bossy every day…”

The rest of the group burst into laughter allowing James to continue to open his birthday presents without being the centre of attention. In his opinion that was probably the worst thing about birthdays. He hated being the centre of attention and he guessed that stemmed from the public and the press’ reaction to his parents (and subsequently him) when they were out in public.

It didn’t take long for all of the presents to be opened and James to thank the group, especially Felicity who had given him copies of some muggle books as well as some books about Disney, after hearing from Nate that James was interested in Disney.

It made the older Holland brothers share a look with Teddy and Victoire as after the gift James had given Felicity and now this, they were beginning to think that they had crushes on each other. Which, in their opinion, was possibly the cutest thing ever.

Once Victoire had vanished all of the wrapping, James looked up at his cousin, “Can we have cake now?”

Rolling her eyes, Victoire laughed nodding, “Yes…yes we can have cake…”


	13. Back to Training

The first weekend in February saw the Gryffindor team return to the air after a break over arguably one of the coldest winters in in history at Hogwarts. Not that that meant February was actually much warmer. 

Therefore, it seemed to take an age for the entire team to assemble in the locker room, reserves and all, as they had all been struggling to pull their third jumper on over their heads. But eventually all 14 Gryffindor players were settled down in the changing rooms. 

Normally, it was only on Thursday’s that the entire team would assemble but as this was the first training session after a long winter hiatus, with a couple of minor injuries against them, Sarah had decided to pull the entire team together. However, that meant that the changing room was a little more crowded than they were used to, as even on Thursday’s, often the main team would practice for a little longer than he reserves, especially just before a match.

James was sat on the floor with his knees pressed up against his chest, fighting to remain awake, not just because of the early morning but because Serena was sat behind him on the bench playing with his hair. Nate was sat with his legs stretched out in front of him in James’ right and he couldn’t help but try and trip Spencer up any time he passed.

Sarah turned to face the group from where she had been writing on the white-board, “Okay Guys – Good Morning and Welcome Back to Training! Now – currently Hufflepuff are in the lead with 280 points. But they have already played 2 matches and with only 1 more to play it looks unlikely that Hufflepuff will be serious contender for the cup this year.   
Ravenclaw have 20 points but they still have two matches to go, so really they could do well. Slytherin haven’t played yet and their first match is on the 20th February against Ravenclaw. Slytherin won the cup last year and are still fielding the same team, so I’d say that Slytherin are our biggest competition. But that does not mean that we should entirely discount Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. In particular Ravenclaw….”

Sarah watched as the others nodded in agreement, which made her feel a little better about the lack of confidence in Hufflepuff as a legitimate challenge for the cup that year.

“We are playing the last two games of the season – on the 20th Slytherin play Ravenclaw and on the 5th March, Slytherin play Hufflepuff – our next match is on Victory day against Ravenclaw and we close out in a match against Slytherin. This is a good thing as we will have a clear idea of how many goals we need to score, the tactics we need to play to actually win the cup rather than just hoping for the best…”

Taking a deep breath, Sarah moved to the side so that the other players could fully see the white-board.

“Now – I know it’s only just turned February but I want to talk about Victory Day…I want to be able to focus on training in the upcoming sessions not on what will be happening on Victory Day itself. Now I’m not sure how much you are aware of what happens on Victory Day, so I am gonna go through a full schedule of the day – as I’m sure you’ll all have other commitments on that day as well as playing Quidditch…”

James sighed internally at the thought of victory day. It was a celebration that he, personally, didn’t have a lot of experience with. While all of his younger cousins had attended the Hogwarts Victoyr Day Celebrations since they were around three years old, James, Dominique and Victoire had not attended prior to becoming students at Hogwarts. As Victory Day was also Victoire’s birthday, the three had normally had a picnic on the beach with Victoire and Dominique’s Aunt Gabrielle as supervisor. Last year he had managed to hide out in the library during most of the events in an attempt to stay out of way of his family and the press. 

This year, he knew, he wouldn’t be so lucky.

“Okay – now as I’m sure you’ve guessed because May 2nd is a Monday, all classes are cancelled on that day. Not great timing just before exams but I doubt that any one was thinking about that when they arrived at Hogwarts to fight. So the day will begin with breakfast which is just for Professors and students – starts at 8 and finishes around 10. From 10, guests will start arriving in time for the Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving…some students – which you will be told closer the date – will act as a welcoming party for the guests which will include the Deputy Head of the MLE, Head of the Aurors, Deputy Head of the Aurors, Minister for Magic and other ministry employees, their families and others who fought in the First and the Second Wars, including Dumbledore’s Army – personally I’m not sure what those greeting the guests have to do as I’ve never had to do it but I’m sure Longbottom will have more details on that if you’re interested…”

Sarah couldn’t help but grin as the others shook their heads with varying levels of determination over the fact that that was something they definitely weren’t interested in doing.

“Okay – if you’re not interested, we’ll move on. If you aren’t apart of the welcoming group, you have that time free – well normally they try and robe you into doing something. Last year I had to move chairs – everyone in attendance is a witch or wizard – why they can’t just use magic is beyond me. But – anyway, I’m moving off point. Everyone is needed down in the ground for the Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving which begins at 11, but you need to be down there a little earlier – it is a – touching – for lack of better word – service but it is long, it will end at like 2 – which is ridiculously long. IT’s always led by the Minister of Magic and will have speeches from Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger – plus a couple of others. You will need to be in formal robes – same as for the Graduation Ceremony…”

Spencer rolled his eyes, “I hate wearing the full formal robes…”

Nate sighed, “But at least they’re better than actual dress robes – I mean seriously – how far behind can the wizarding world actually be?”

“I know – it’s ridiculous – if…”

Sarah rolled her eyes, interrupting Spencer, “Boys – shut up – as I was saying – after the Service there will be lunch which will be from 2.00 to 3.30 ish – both in the Great Hall and out in the Grounds. For us, the match begins at 4, so try and eat early so that we have enough time to warm up and prepare for the match…the match has to be finished by 8 as that’s when the feast is as curfew is extended to 11pm for all students. A match has never actually had to be stopped because they were pressed for time so I’m not sure how that works exactly – if the match finishes early and your family are here, be prepared to be expected to entertain them until it is time for the feast…”

Nate glanced down across at Spencer, “Is Gran coming?”

Spencer nodded, “This year she is…now that she’s hired a couple of people to work in the café she can come…”

Sarah smiled, “I do like Dorothy – now anyway…that’s enough chattering – lets get some practicing done…James pair with Callie, Serena with Calvin and Josh you’re with me for the warm ups – lets get going…”


	14. Slytherin V Ravenclaw

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the chapter is a day late. Yesterday (Friday 18th September) my new flatmates decided that it would be great day to spend time together and get to know one another. That resulted in us going to the Student Pub, playing (or in my case attempting to play) pool and coming back to the flat to play never have I ever until 2.30 am. So, if anyone was waiting on this chapter, I'm sorry but you can blame them because I would much rather have stayed in.
> 
> Thank you once again to everyone who has read, commented, favourited, subscribed, bookmarked and left kudos on this work. Your support means so much to me x

For only the second time since her parents had died, Felicity was actually excited. She could feel thrumming of heart and the beat of excitement pulsing through her veins and she wasn’t even playing. Today was Slytherin’s first match of the season against Ravenclaw and Felicity was actually excited to be able to go and take in Quidditch in all of its glory.

Growing up in the muggle world with her parents but having the wizarding influence of her grandparents, Felicity had always been fascinated by Quidditch. She wasn’t, in anyone’s mind or imagination, considered sporty in the muggle world. She wasn’t athletic or into football or tennis or dance. She didn’t understand the strange rules of muggle football and had always been a little lost when any of her muggle friends one start talking about Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United. But Quidditch was something that she could hold onto. Having 4 older brothers meant that they weren’t interested in playing with dolls or having tea parties, they wanted to get as muddy as possible out in the garden, and Quidditch was something that they could all do together.

Of course she always let them think that they always let her win.

So as she pulled on a pair of dark skinny blue jeans, an old t-shirt and a knitted jumper for Victoire, she couldn’t help but smile.

Today she would see her oldest brother play Quidditch at Hogwarts for the very first time and if that wasn’t exciting then she didn’t know what was. She pulled on thick woolly socks and then her boots before grabbing her scarf and coat, leaving her dorm room to meet up with Victoire. Felicity hadn’t exactly become close friends with any of her room mates and most were intimidated by her relationship with Victoire Weasley, who was arguably the Queen Bee at Hogwarts.

Once she made her way down the stairs and into the common room, she was actually surprised to see that there were several people milling around, each carrying warmer clothes to put on in the Great Hall after breakfast so that they wouldn’t be forced to come all the way up to their dorms before the Quidditch match.

Felicity made her way over to where Victoire was stood a smile on her face while glancing down at her nails.

“Morning…”

Victoire jumped slightly, not having seen Felicity approach, her smile widening, “Morning! Hey, you ready to see your brother play?”

Felicity nodded, “I’ve never seen Xan play at Hogwarts before – and I know he wants to go pro but I…”

Victoire glanced up in surprise as they walked at of the common room and down to the Great Hall, “He wants to go pro?”

Felicity nodded, “Yeah – so does Spence but that’s a few more years off yet…”

“And you?”

“I have seven years to figure out what I want to do…”

Victoire giggled, “That is a very good point…”

“But what about you? You want to continue with Delacour Designs?”

Victoire nodded, flicking her blond hair across her shoulder, causing a younger Ravenclaw boy to walk into a wall, transfixed, “Yeah – I – Yeah…I want to continue with that – I’m well – I haven’t told anyone this –not even Teddy yet – so you can’t say anything. Promise you won’t say anything…”

“I promise…”

Victoire lowered her voice, “There’s a young designer showcase in muggle London in the summer – and I’ve secured myself a place…”

Felicity grinned and pulled Victoire into a quick hug, surprising the both of them. Felicity wasn’t exactly big on hugging. 

“That’s great! What are you gonna do? Can I come? Why haven’t you told Teddy?”

Victoire rolled her eyes. It had surprised her when Felicity had begun to open up more and a sarcastic, snarky but ultimately kind and warm-hearted. It was easy to see that most of the sarcasm and snark was used as a defence, particularly against her brother. It must have been difficult growing up as the only girl and the youngest, giving Victoire a whole new respect for her Aunt Ginny.

“Yeah you can come – well if you’re coming you can help me. And I’m still figuring out what I’m doing – we have to create a portfolio of photos of the models in the clothes – and because it’s a muggle competition it needs to be muggle – so not sure how I’ll do that. And as for Teddy – I don’t know. He’s just been so stressed studying for NEWTS and applying for the Auror programme and being Head Boy and I don’t want him to stress or worry about me too…”

The duo entered the Great Hall as Felicity smiled softly at the older blonde girl, “You know he wants to know what is going on with you, right? Like – he’d want to help you in whatever way he could…”

Victoire nodded and they settled down at the Ravenclaw table smiling and waving at Alissa who was sat with the rest of the team, “I know, I know – but – oh I don’t know…”

Felicity giggled but let the topic drop knowing that Victoire had to have her reasons for not wanting to tell her boyfriend. The two ate their breakfast discussing the prospects of the Ravenclaw team. Currently they only had 20 points to Slytherin’s score of zero and Slytherin hadn’t had a match yet. By the time that everyone was down in the stands and the commentator was spewing random facts about both teams, the weather had, thankfully improved drastically.

The match itself was pretty intense. It didn’t surprise anyone that the Slytherin team were particularly strong. The way that the current Hogwarts match fixtures had been set up meant that Slytherin had the entire first term to train before they had their first match plus that current team was a well-established one and there hadn’t been a new addition in a couple of years.

But the Ravenclaw’s were proving that they were just as good as the Slytherin’s. They hadn’t had to train a new player either so it was pretty evenly matched game. Most games at Hogwarts were relatively safe, with very few fouls actually being committed. Which is why it was generally such a big shock to those who went on to play professional Quidditch, as professional matches could be extremely violent. 

By the time the stands exploded into rapturous applause as the Ravenclaw seeker, Warrick Spaton, captured the snitch, it was mid-afternoon and everyone was thankful that the match had finally ended and that they could all go inside and get warm.

“Ravenclaw win! That 310 points to Slytherin’s 240! What a match that was?! Currently, overall, Ravenclaw are in the lead with 330 points, Hufflepuff are next with 280, then Gryffindor with 260 and Slytherin with 240! Now bear in mind that Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw each only have 1 match left to play, while Slytherin and Gryffindor have two matches left! This could be the closest pursuit of the Quidditch Cup in several years!”


	15. Nate's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another short one. University started back up again today and the amount of work I have to do already is terrifying. But on the other hand, I'm really excited for the new Pottermore to be updated as hopefully this will give me some insight into all of the parts of the wizarding world that I really want to know more about.
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos on this work x

When everyone gathered in the Room of Requirement after classes for Nate’s birthday, they were all rather surprised to see the variety of food that was laid out before them. No one had exactly thought about the fact that because they would be missing dinner, that the house-elves would provide food for them. 

“Master James!” a little elf squeaked happily from beside the long table of food.

James blinked in surprise, “Cookie?”

“Master James remembers Cookie! Cookie is very happy that Master James remembers Cookie…”

Cookie, the tiny little house-elf, moved over grabbed a hold of James’ arm and tugged him over to where the food was, making the others laugh a little in surprise. It took a few moments to remember exactly why Cookie was calling him master before remembering that his Aunt Hermione had found Cookie being beaten in her previous home and after much persuasion (from Cookie, Harry and Headmaster Williams) it was agreed that over the holidays Cookie would live at Potter Manor and during term time she would work at Hogwarts. Cookie hadn’t wanted to be ‘free’ although she did enjoy the ability to wear clothing if she wanted to (she was particularly fond of an old t-shirt that had once belonged to Ginny which Cookie had found when she settled into her little den at Potter Manor).

Once Cookie had pulled James over to the table she smiled up at him, causing James to smile down at her softly.

“Thanks Cookie – this is so much more than any of us could have asked for. You really didn’t need to go to so much trouble. And what did I ask you about calling me Master James?”

Cookie giggled happily at the compliment, “Cookie thanks you! And – you asked me to call you James…Cookie will try to call you James….”

“Thank you…”

Cookie beamed up at him before disappearing into thin air. Once she was gone the others moved forward, settling themselves down at the table. James sat on one end with Kayla and Dominique, while Serena, Victoire and Felicity sat a little way down the table. Brandon sat next to Spencer, while Nate was sat at the head of the table with Xander and Teddy sat next to him. 

It was strange how this group of mismatched individuals, two families and a couple of strays, had merged together becoming their own weird family. Victoire loved Alissa and her other room-mates; Nate and James got on well with Chris and Kent but there was something right about the friendship and comradery that the group shared.

The room was filled with bubbles and bursts of laughter and joy as the group all caught up on the goings on in each-other’s lives. The fact that they were in different houses and different year groups meant that sometimes a couple of weeks may pass by before they are all able to catch each other up on just what has happened. 

Felicity glanced sideways down the table to where Teddy sat and turned questioningly to Victoire. Victoire simply shook her head before taking a bite of the delicious chocolate cake that Cookie had placed on the table. Felicity sighed inwardly. She kind of knew why Victoire was so reluctant to share her news about the muggle fashion showcase with Teddy. Teddy had been all kinds of stressed recently and just knowing that made Felicity sympathetic towards him. She had no idea how Victoire had been coping with some of the drastic mood swings Teddy had been having in regards to his prospects after Hogwarts. But on the other hand, Felicity thought that maybe if Teddy knew about Victoire’s showcase then he might be able to focus on something else. To realise that his entire life and future were not wrapped up in the results of his NEWTs.

But then again, Felicity supposed that she would be just as stressed (and probably more so) when she came to take her NEWTs.

The group finished their dessert before moving over to where the sofas were positioned in the corner of the room. All of the times that they had celebrated a birthday in the Room of Requirement, the room had appeared very familiar. There were always a couple of sofas, beanbags and lots of large fluffy cushions, while the presents were piled up in the centre of the concoction. The decoration and the colours were always slightly different, as were the position of the sofas, but on the whole the room stayed the same for each of the birthday celebrations. It gave a very clear sense of home and belonging.

The second that the group had sat down, Nate began to tear open his presents, let out rather embarrassing squeals of delight and thanks when he came across the presents that he particularly liked. The rest of the group watched closely, occasionally ducking their heads to whisper to the person next to them a little bit about the gift or to share some secret that Nate wasn’t privy too. Not that he was really bothered by that fact. 

Birthday’s were one of the things that had started to draw this unconventional crowd together and it was the thing that would keep them together.


	16. Hufflepuff V Slytherin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work. It means the world to me x

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Just breathe.

Everything is going to be okay.

Breathe and Score.

Don’t get knocked off your broom.

Score as much as possible.

Not like that.

Put the Quaffle through the Hoop.

Breathe.

In.

Out.

In.

“Dom – you okay?”

Dominique opened her eyes to see Kayla peering down at her curiously as she laid back on her bed staring up at the yellow canopy.

Dominique sighed and sat up nodding, “Yeah – yeah I’m good…”

“Right – sure you are because I’ve been talking to you for the past ten minutes and you haven’t told me to shut up yet…”

Dominique rolled her eyes, “I only tell you to shut up when you’re talking about my cousin…”

“Fred?”

Dominique giggled and chucked a cushion at Kayla’s head, who caught it and cuddled to her chest.

“Seriously though – are you okay?”

Dominique shrugged, “It’s the last match of the year for us – there’s a lot riding on it – especially as Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw still have matches to play – which pretty much means we have to score as much as possible and hope that they don’t make up the difference in their upcoming matches. It kinda sucks that we have matches really early on the year and then we finish before everyone else…”

“Has it always been like that?”

Dominique shook her head as she stood up, collecting the things she would need for match, “Nah – it changes every now and again – normally if there’s serious injury or someone has dragon pox or something ridiculous – I am glad we don’t have to play on Victory day though…”

The duo made their way out of their dorm room, through the common room and up to the Great Hall for Breakfast.

“Yeah? Why?”

“The pressure – Victory Day is a really important day, you know? Especially in our family. I mean – sure it’s Vic’s birthday but that has always kind of been pushed aside because Victory day is literally the day that most of our parents and grandparents friends and family died – and yeah, sure they won the war – but it is not exactly a happy day…”

“Last year was – well I won’t say fun but – well you know what I mean…”

Dominique nodded as they took their seats at the Hufflepuff table, “Uhuh – yeah before Hogwarts me, James and Fred didn’t really ever come to Victory Day here at Hogwarts – neither did Vic before she started – but now that we’re here we can’t really avoid it. I mean – James did last year but that resulted in a long argument with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny about him disrespecting those that had fought and lost their lives for the world which he now lives in – he spent several days at my house because of it…”

“So - remind me why I wasn’t invited to your house over the summer?”

Dominique laughed and rolled her eyes, “Before summer you couldn’t even speak to James let alone spend several days in his company – how was I to know that we’d come back in September and you’d be able to actually talk to him?”

“But you invited Serena?”

Dominique took a gulp of pumpkin juice before replying, “Serena is definitely not bothered about talking to James…”

“You don’t think…”

“Urgh…why are we talking about my annoying cousin before my final match of the year huh?”

Kayla shrugged, a small smile on her face, “Because you like to humour me?”

“Yeah – let’s go with that. Now, enough about James…”

“Fine – so you ready to kick some Slytherin arse?”

“Is that a muggle saying?”

“Not really – it’s a ‘I’m-trying-to-psych-you-up-for-the-match’ saying…”

Dominique shrugged, “I guess so – it’s weird that the season for Hufflepuff is already at an end but there are two more matches until we find out the Cup standings…”

“Think positive and only good things will happen…”

“Where on earth did you get that?”

Kayla punched Dominique lightly on the arm, “Oh shut up…”

Three hours later when the Hufflepuff and Slytherin Quidditch teams were up in the air, the Quaffle flying, players soaring diving, ducking and in a couple of cases, falling, the adrenaline and the excitement of playing Quidditch pulsed through the players veins. 

The wind blew through Dominique’s blonde hair, her ponytail becoming loose as she ducked and twisted and twirled. Her cheeks becoming rosy, her hands tightening around the shaft of her broomstick, the Quaffle tucked tightly under her arm. Xander, the Slytherin Keeper, proved a worthy opponent and stopped many of the Hufflepuff attempts to score. But the Hufflepuff team were getting sneakier, they were taking advantages of an early injury to Xander. 

And that advantage was paying off.

The injury Xander had received early on in the match was a particularly nasty one that had had his siblings in the crowd shield their faces with Felicity muttering about how it looked like he had dislocated his shoulder and that he needed to stop playing or he was just going to make it worse. Not that Xander was taking the advice he couldn’t hear but knew she would be saying. 

In fact, Xander could no longer actually feel where the Quaffle and then a Bludger had collided with his shoulder but he knew that once he landed he would be in the hospital wing overnight more than likely. Not that it would matter as it was pretty clear that Hufflepuff were playing strongest game that anyone had ever seen them play. And it had Sarah nervously biting her nails, knowing that she had previously severally underestimated the strength and the prospects of the Hufflepuff team.

It was after about 4 hours of play that Karla Montez captured the snitch just ahead of Slytherin’s Margaret Phillips. Placing Hufflepuff in the lead with 300 points and Slytherin with 110 points. 

Snitch’s were a wonderful thing.

Not that anyone was particularly in a celebratory mood.

Most of the players, both Slytherin and Hufflepuff rushed to Xander’s side as he struggled to keep himself upright for much longer. It was something that Dominique admired about Hogwarts in the 21st Century. In her father’s era at Hogwarts, the two teams wouldn’t have dared to approach or cared to help an injured player on the opposing team. And not just because the prejudice of war.

But now, it was common place for friendship groups to span the different houses. And Dominique would argue that it wasn’t just because she knew Xander that she wanted to help but because it was the right thing to do. 

Maybe she should consider a career in healing.

Nope.

She wasn’t going down that route.

Not yet anyway.


	17. Options

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work x

The two break over the Easter holidays proved to be two of the most stressful weeks of the little second years lives, much to the amusement of the 5th and 7th years, who were on the whole unwilling to offer any genuine advice to the decision that the 2nd years were having to make.

By the end of the holidays, all of the second years must have submitted their options for next year.

And what a decision it was turning out to be.

Arithmancy or Ancient Runes or Care or Magical Creatures or Divination or Muggle Studies.

The options were, well they weren’t quite endless, but that didn’t necessarily make the decision any easier.

How were they supposed to know whether they would like or have any sort of talent studying that course if they weren’t even sure what the courses actually are?

The little leaflets they had all been given regarding the different options could not exactly be described as helpful to make an informed decision.

James continued to leaf through and pour over the limited information that was shared in these leaflets. The stress over the decision had once again caused James to not eat. It was concerning that something as simple as this could have this effect on James and it made him concerned for the stress that his mind and body might go under during his OWLs and NEWTs. 

Quidditch had been a great help in combating what, James was hesitant to describe as an eating disorder, but clearly he was on the hinges of developing one. To be the best at Quidditch he needed to eat, he needed to grow, be quick and strong and the only way that he could do that, other than practising at every hour of every day, was to eat.

But situations regarding school were a different matter altogether.

School work was something that caused James to majorly stress out. He was constantly afraid that he would be a disappointment to his family, to work that his parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, hell, even the distant 12th Century ancestors. It was why he pushed himself constantly to get the best grades that he possibly could and to not disappoint his teachers.

Not that his parents themselves has necessarily got great grades.

They claimed that they had other things to do.

They weren’t exactly much help in helping James to make the decision of what he was going to study. They had both pushed for him to study Care of Magical Creatures, their relationship with Hagrid still pushed them to make James pursue the subject, even though everyone knew that Hagrid was not what many would call a competent teacher. But then again, could any of the teachers at Hogwarts actually be considered competent? 

They had both been wary of James studying Divination. Despite, the fact that they both now knew that Divination wasn’t exactly as woolly as it might have seemed and that Professor Trelawney wasn’t exactly totally incompetent. She had had two real prophecies in recent history and that caused both Harry and Ginny to say that James should give Divination a try.

But in reality, James had already written Divination off his list.

And thrown it into the fire.

Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies proved to be rather more difficult to weed out. Neither off his parents had studied the subjects and therefore, James really had absolutely no idea what to expect.

His Aunt Hermione said that Arithmancy was her favourite subject at Hogwarts and that it was a viable option to Divination. That the facts, the numbers and the (to be muggle) science involved in Arithmancy meant that there was very limited guesswork. 

His Uncle Bill suggested that studying Ancient Runes would probably be the most beneficial for any future career that James might choose to take. To which his Tante Fleur agreed. They argued that wizards and witches used and came across Ancient Runes far more often than one might assume.

His Uncle Percy had supported both his Aunt Hermione’s and his Uncle Bill’s suggestions, but he had guided James to take a closer look at Muggle Studies. A subject which both his parents, his Aunt Hermione and his Uncle Bill had written off. He argued that the way both the muggle and the wizarding world was changing, meant that it was increasingly important for more witches and wizards to become acquainted and to understand exactly how the muggle world worked.

While it was clear that his Uncle Percy though James was destined for a career at the Ministry, well everyone in his family thought James was destined for a career at the ministry, the idea of studying muggles, of understanding the way that their world works without magic, was particularly enticing for James.

So, he placed Muggle Studies on his chosen elective pile of one. 

That just left the choice between Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. 

He knew that he had to select at least two options but he was seriously torn between what elections he should actually pick. If Muggle Studies was one, what could his other one be?

Could he pick more than one?

The internal debate was interrupted several times by Nate and Serena forcing him to eat before James finally plucked up the courage to go and speak to Nev…no – Professor Longbottom about his options.

Not that he was much help either.

Professor Longbottom had taken the same electives as his father and hadn’t exactly enjoyed or done well in either of them. But he did let James know that he could actually pick three options, that there was space in the timetable for that to work. He pointed out that while it was rumoured that the Unspeakables were working a new Time-Turners which had first been destroyed in the Battle of the Ministry in 1996, if James only selected three options there wouldn’t be need for one. It would just mean that he needed to be a little more careful and organised in preparation for his exams.

So, when James settled back down into the overstuffed armchair in the Gryffindor common room with a Honeydukes Chocolate Easter egg and the leaflets of the three subjects of which he would decide to drop one.

That decision still proved harder than he had thought.

Arithmancy, Ancient Runes or Care of Magical Creatures?

He read the leaflets over and over and over again, even making a pros and cons list regarding what was good and what was bad about the three subjects. Who the Professor was, were they any good, what were the exams like, the assessments and more all became complied onto a rather long piece of parchment.

Nate, Serena, Dominique and Kayla had all made their choices relatively easily. Nate was taking Divination and Care of Magical Creatures; Serena was studying Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures; Dominique was studying Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies and Divination; and Kayla was studying Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy.

On the very last day of the two week holiday, James finally made his decision. He carefully filled in the little form that Professor Longbottom had given him on a piece of parchment. His name and house, he wasn’t sure why had to specify that, surely Hogwarts just knew that information, and the options that he elected to take.

Muggle Studies.

Ancient Runes.

Care of Magical Creatures.

Taking a deep breathe, he folded the form in half and placed it on top of the pile of forms that had been completed earlier on in the holidays by his Gryffindor classmates before reclaiming his seat in between Serena and Nate on the sofa, stealing some of Serena’s cookie as he did so.

She smiled, happy that James was finally choosing to eat food rather than being forced. But it did make her wonder, if this was what he was like choosing what to study, what would he be like when he had to take exams in those subjects? Would they be able to keep James on the straight and narrow?


	18. Victory Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this fic. I hope you like my interpretation of Victory Day on May 2nd. Because this a long chapter in comparison to my other works, the next chapter will be uploaded Friday 2nd October 2015 instead of Wednesday 30th September. 
> 
> Once again, thank you xx

At 7am on May 2nd James, Nate, Serena, Dominique, Kayla, Brandon, Xander, Teddy and Spencer were all assembled in the Room of Requirement. Unlike their previous times in the room of requirement, the mood was a rather sombre one. Just like always there was a pile of presents in between two large sofas and the floor was littered with bean bags and cushions. 

But the mood (and the amount of cake) was low.

James was perched down on the sofa with Teddy’s arm wrapped tightly around his shoulder. The comfort and support was passed between the two of them silently, yet it was unknown as to who needed the support the most.

It wasn’t long before Victoire arrived with Alissa and Felicity. The trio were laughing about something but they immediately fell silent upon noticing the atmosphere in the room.

Teddy glanced up and small but genuine smile on his face, “Happy Birthday Vic…”

Victoire rolled her eyes and moved over to Teddy, who released James, accepting Victoire into his arms.

“You don’t have to try and pretend you know…none of you do. Today sucks – I get that – which is why I’m not opening any of my presents today and we’ll all meet up here tomorrow and do it then…”

Teddy sighed and shook his head, “No – Vic – it’s your birthday and…”

“You really want to argue with me on this? Listen – today sucks and it always will – not just for you Teddy – in fact I think Jamie is having a mini heart-attack right now. But tomorrow we can do all the normal birthday stuff. It’s fine – I wish I didn’t share my birthday with the anniversary that your parents died Teddy – I do. But I like to think that I’m their gift to you because they can’t be here to look after you…”

Teddy nodded taking a deep breath as Victoire brushed a tear from his cheek, reaching up and pressing a soft kiss to Teddy’s lips. While the two were having a moment, Dominique moved over to James, who was clearly entering a state of panic about the day. She carefully tugged James’ stiff frame into a hug. She could feel how tense James’ body was and realised that despite the hug, James wasn’t relaxing much. 

She knew that James in particular had always struggled with Victory Day and Halloween for obvious reasons. He struggled with it far more than any of the others. As Harry and Ginny’s oldest child, he was the one who was most likely to actually end up in the newspapers, he was the one that wizarding population of the world wanted to know more about. It seemed that witches and wizards were fascinated by the life and the prospects of James Sirius Potter, which terrified James. He just wanted to lead normal life where no one really knew who he was. 

Today, was one of the worst days.

While, for the most part, James was able to go about his life at Hogwarts without ending up in the papers, today was a day that it was guaranteed that James’ face would be plastered onto most of the wizarding publications in the country. Last year h had been the front page because he had been absent from all of the events of the day, leading to most of the media to speculate about James’ relationship with his parents and how exactly the Great Harry Potter would feel about that.

The reality was, in this instance, pretty similar to how it was reported.

Victoire stepped side-wards remaining tucked underneath Teddy’s arm, her blue eyes settling on James and Dominique, “Come on then – lets go get breakfast and get today over with…”

The group walked close together, with Teddy soon pulling James into his other side as Dominique linked her arm through James’. They walked to the Great Hall quietly, just a little bit of light hearted chatter passed between Xander, Spencer, Kayla, Nate and Brandon, while the others walked with their heads down.

Alissa tugged Felicity tightly into her side. Despite the fact that Alissa, James, Nate and Serena all had a match later on that day, they weren’t allowing themselves to stress out about it. Alissa had learnt pretty quickly once Felicity had finally started talking to more than just Victoire, that Felicity was a pretty sensitive person, using her sarcasm and brains to shield herself from any more emotional upheaval. Today, it was clear, was going to be tough for the small brunette. It didn’t matter that Felicity herself didn’t have really any connection to either of the wizarding wars outside of her grandparents and even then she wasn’t exactly connected to it. But Felicity was upset because Victoire, Teddy, Dominique and James were upset. She had grown to love four and seeing them struggle was particularly hard for her.

Once in the Great Hall, the mood was notably sombre in comparison to what breakfast was normally like. Also, for once it was clear that no one was actually following the rules of sitting at their house tables, which allowed for the group to settle down at what would normally be the Hufflepuff table. It was actually pretty difficult to distinguish between what person belonged to what house. Instead of the usual house robes over their uniforms, students were all wearing plain black robes and their hats. Of course, everyone was still wearing their house ties, but it was still pretty difficult to note what house everyone belonged to from a distance.

It wasn’t long until Headmaster Williams began to direct the students to their positions and roles for the day’s proceedings. Several students were directed to go down to the location of the Service of Remembrance and Thanksgiving down by the lake. They had learnt in History of Magic the week prior that the service was actually held in the same location that Professor Albus Dumbledore’s funeral had been held, and if that wasn’t depressing they didn’t know what is.

Several other students were directed and given further information regarding what they should say to welcome the visitors to Hogwarts. The visitors would begin to arrive at Hogwarts soon, many apparated, flooed or got a portkey into Hogsmeade Village, before they would either walk or take a carriage up into the school grounds. Many preferred to walk, not liking the reminder of seeing the thestrals.

It was at that moment that Xander informed his siblings that their Grandmother would be in attendance as her and their late Grandfather had both fought during the first war and were forced into hiding during the second war. At this information, Felicity wrapped her arms tightly around herself. She didn’t want to be reminded of the sacrifices that people, including her grandparents, were forced to make in order to survive. She didn’t want to think about the heinous things that they had seen, the things they did in order to survive the two wars. Xander stood up, taking Brandon with him, to go greet their Grandmother leaving Spencer, Nate and Felicity with the others. 

The students that weren’t partaking in setting up or greeting the guests, would all have to make their way down to the Service together. It was a good way of ensuring that all students attended the service, although like James last year some always slip past unnoticed. 

An hour later the students rose, assembled into an organised formation in accordance with their house, proving a little more difficult than expected without the coloured hoods to prove who was in each house. 

The students were led by the Head-boy, Teddy and the Head-girl, a Slytherin called Tabitha down to the lake. First were the Gryffindor’s, followed by the Ravenclaw’s, then Hufflepuff’s and finally Slytherin. The students sat in seats behind the invited guests and Professor’s, although a few Professor’s always sat at the back to ensure that the students actually behaved.

As if they would do anything but.

By the time the students arrived all of the guests had already taken their seats and James was surprised to find that he, Victoire, Dominique and Fred were all pulled to the side as the other students were seated. 

Headmaster Williams gathered the students close, “Now – as usual you will be sat in the empty row in between the members of Dumbledore’s Army and the other students on the right side of the aisle…now please take your seats quickly and quietly – Mr Potter it is good that you decided to attend this year…”

As the Headmaster walked swiftly down the aisle to take his seat on the front row, James rolled his eyes but quickly followed Victoire down the aisle to where Teddy was already seated. It didn’t escape anyone’s notice that they had entered with many turning round to watch them take their seats. Lily turned in her seat next to her mother and just managed to catch James and Dominique’s eyes, offering them a small wave to which they each returned with a small forced smile on their faces.

It was moments later that the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, took to the lectern. While Minister Shacklebolt was not quite on a par yet with the longest serving Minister for Magic, Faris Spavin, he was certainly regarding as one of the greatest Minister’s for Magic.

“Good Morning and Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A place that for centuries provided a safe place for all young witches and wizards in the British Isles to hone the craft of magic. Eighteen years ago, that safe environment was changed forever. Eighteen years ago today we fought with our lives for the freedom of the British Wizarding Community. Eighteen years Ago, I stood here in the grounds of a place I once called home, knowing that I would never see some of my closest friends and family again. Eighteen years ago, we lost some of the greatest witches and wizards our world has ever known. Eighteen years ago saw the defeat of Lord Voldemort, the greatest foe our world has ever known. I was here on that day – just like many of you. I was astounded by the bravery and courage that was displayed by the students of Hogwarts of all houses, their loyalty and their skills as they played a part in the defeat of Lord Voldemort. This is a Service of Remembrance, as we remember those who lost their lives and those who gave everything they had for the safety and the freedom of the world we now live in. But it is also a Service of Thanksgiving, as we give thanks to those who helped, in any small way to put an end to Lord Voldemort’s reign. Today, we remember and give thanks to everyone who fought, not just in the Second War, but in the First, as we celebrate the achievements and remember those we lost all those years ago. First, I would like to welcome the Deputy Head of the Aurors, former Dumbledore’s Army member – Ronald Weasley!”

Everyone clapped politely as Kingsley took a seat in the front row as Ron stood and moved towards the lectern. It was clear that Ron wasn’t necessarily comfortable giving a speech in front of such a large audience instead of the few Aurors he normally had to speak with. Taking a deep breath, he locked eyes with his wife and began.

“Good Morning – or well is it afternoon now? Anyway – that’s not really that important. What is important that we thank and remember everyone who played even a small part in the First and Second Wars against Voldemort. When I was growing up, before I became a student as this place, I was told the stories of how a 1 year old baby had defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Then I met that kid and discovered that it wasn’t quiet the glorious story I had built up in my head. As I was dragged, I say dragged but I guess I was a willing participant, into Harry’s various battles against Voldemort and the Death-eaters, I learnt more about myself and this world than I had ever given much thought to before. And sure, it was kind of nice that Voldemort always waited until the end of the school year to cause havoc for us…”

Ron paused as those sat at the front laughed at his unintentional joke.

“But I discovered something greater. I discovered that the teachers that I thought of as just teachers were far more than just that. They were brave and courageous – true heroes. We lost many of them during the war – the loss of Professor Remus Lupin and Professor Severus Snape – the sacrifice they made for the future of this world was great – and that is something that I am eternally thankful for. I may have disliked the foot long essays they would give about bizarre potions or Bogarts but in truth – if it wasn’t for the two of them, I wouldn’t have known how to fight, I wouldn’t have known the meaning of true sacrifice. So, today, I wish to remember and give thanks to fallen teachers and Professor’s, who gave their lives to protect the lives of the students of this school – going far beyond what anyone, anywhere could have ever asked of them. To them I give thanks…”

As Ron stepped away from the lectern, the audience burst into rapturous applause as he retook his seat in the front row next to his wife. Kingsley stood up and introduced Hermione, who took to the lectern with a lot more confidence than her husband had.

“As the Head of the Department for Magical Law Enforcement it is my honour to be speaking with you all on such an important day. Unlike Ronald, I was not aware of the terror or the stories of Harry and the first wizarding war. But I was soon brought up to speed. The friendship that I gained while here at Hogwarts changed my life – I never would have predicted that for my life before Hogwarts. In fact, before Hogwarts I wanted to be a dentist. Throughout the years and the battles that we all have fought, we all changed, we grew and the wizarding world grew. The acceptance of squibs, muggles, house-elves, werewolves, centaurs and all manner of other people into wizarding society is what continues to make our world great. Despite those we lost, we gained so much as well. For the first time since the International Statute of Secrecy was implemented, witches and wizards are free from the demons within our own world. We are free from those who wish to do nothing but to take away the lives of those who forced our community into hiding. That was wrong. We now can live in safe world – our community is once again safe from internal threat. Today I would like to thank my friends and the family who took us in when it would have been easier to shut us out. Today, I would like to thank you…”

Once again, the audience broke into rapturous applause that only intensified when Harry Potter took to the lectern to give the final speech. James slid down further into his seat, hoping that he could avoid the second hand embarrassment if he couldn’t actually see his father giving the speech.

“Well – it is definitely well into the afternoon now – so Good Afternoon. My upbringing could not be described as great and definitely did not prepare me for what my life would become once I entered the wizarding world on my eleventh birthday. Which you can read all about Skeeter’s not at all embellished new book…”

The audience let out a laugh as James slid further down in his seat, his eyes fixed on the floor.

“But once here – I found a place that I could call home. Hogwarts. It was the first place that I could ever call home and what a home is was – what a home it still is. I learnt so much and met so many people who became the biggest influences on my life. The people I met prepared me in ways that, at the time, I did not fully understand. Professor Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks, Professor McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid – all of the members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army – without any of those people – the war couldn’t have been won. So, my message is to the current and future students of Hogwarts – Hogwarts is your home, it is a place where so many wonderful thing will happen in your life. It is the place where you will meet the people who will shape your life forever. So today, I ask that you remember the students who came before you. The students that gave everything they could give for the school that is now your home. Eighteen years ago, Hogwarts was damaged – many thought beyond repair – but is you, the current students of Hogwarts that led the way in rebuilding the school to one that stands today. So, today I would like to give thanks to the students who gave more than I ever thought possible to a school many didn’t even know existed until the age of 11. Today I give thanks to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…”

As Harry returned to his seat the audience rose to their feet in a standing ovation, while Kingsley returned to the lectern.

“If everyone would please remain standing and raise your wands in the air! As today we remember give thanks on Victory Day here at Hogwarts!”

The sea of silver sparks shooting up into the air was, admittedly, stunning, but James couldn’t help but notice that some of the sparks weren’t exactly silver and that there happened to be a couple of blushing first years on the opposite aisle. It made him grin to think that they had probably still not grasped the whole concept of coloured yet harmless sparks of magic.

“Now! Food will now be served within the Great Hall or out in the grounds before we all watch the Ravenclaw verses Gryffindor Quidditch match! A Match I am very much looking forward to watching! Now please, Eat and Give Thanks!”

It didn’t take that long for everyone to stream out up to the castle, settling themselves down on picnics blankets out in the grounds or at one of tables in the Great Hall. Xander, Spencer, Nate, Brandon and Felicity sat with their Grandmother Dorothy over on the Hufflepuff table, while Teddy, Victoire, James, Dominique and Fred joined their family at the Gryffindor table. Kayla, Serena and Alissa settled down at the Ravenclaw table, not wanting to impose of the family meal.

Harry pulled Teddy into a hug the minute that he was able to while the others wished Victoire a happy birthday as she helped herself to the food on the table. Soon, the entire family were eating and talking, telling tales of those that had passed on this day eighteen years ago. James was notably silent for much of the meal, his nerves about the upcoming match were beginning to build and he really wasn’t interested in talking about his dismal Defence scores once again with his parents.

Luckily, it wasn’t long before Spencer appeared at James’ shoulder telling him that Sarah wanted them down in the changing rooms. Lily hugged James tightly as the rest of the family gave him a variety of variations from good luck to tips on how to play. Teddy just nodded a grin appearing on his face as James disappeared with the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams.

“I think we’re in for a treat…”

Once down in the changing rooms, the players quickly stripped out of their robes pulling on their Quidditch Breeches, house jumper and socks, before pulling on their boots and pads. They didn’t have long to warm up but it was vital that they did, so, as was tradition on Victory Day, both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw ran three laps of the field before disappearing back into their respective changing rooms as everyone began to fill the stands.

“Good Afternoon and Welcome to Another Victory Day Quidditch Match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Currently, with this being Ravenclaw’s final match of the season, the scores are as follows: Hufflepuff, with all matches played, are leading with 580 points; they are followed by Slytherin, with one match to play, on 350 points; followed by Ravenclaw with just this match to play on 330 points; and finally Gryffindor, who with two matches to play, have 260 points! Today, it is clear that Chasers will be battling to get that Quaffle through those hoops in order to try and beat the magnificent score by the Hufflepuff team this year – the addition of Dominique Weasley really was one of the smartest decisions that has been made! Oh and here come the Ravenclaw team!”

The stands erupted into thundering applause as the Ravenclaw team confidently strode out onto the pitch.

“Firstly we have Keeper Kyle Ewart, sorry – I still don’t know how to pronounce your name Kyle – anyway, he’s followed by Beaters and Twins Samantha Parker and Josh Parker, who are followed by Chasers Alissa Thompson, Captain Melissa Gregory and Marcus Spark. Last but not least, Seeker Warrick Spaton! This year we will have to say goodbye Kyle and Melissa – can they win the cup in their final year? For the answer to that question we will have to wait and see! And here come the Gryffindor’s!”

As the crowd erupted once again, the Gryffindor team took their places on the field. Serena glanced side-wards at James who was stood in between herself and Sarah. She knew he was nervous about playing in front of his entire family but she was grateful for the fact that he had definitely eaten before the match as he didn’t want to get into an argument about not eating with his Aunt Hermione yet again.

“First up Keeper Benj Wright, followed by Beaters Nate Holland and Wes Dawson, followed by Chasers Captain Sarah Rhodes, Serena Taylor and James Potter - Finally, Seeker Spencer Holland! Today not only is the Holland brothers Grandmother in the audience – but so is the Great Harry Potter and family! Will Potter be able to handle the pressure of knowing that his entire family is watching? Or will he crumble under the immense strain of carrying on the Quidditch legacy that both of his parents left behind?”

Up in the stands, Teddy rolled his eyes at the commentator’s remarks as he pulled Victoire close to his side. Victoire glanced up at him showing that she too, while not unsurprised at the comments, thought that referring to her Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry as leaving a legacy was a bit much. Teddy and Victoire were sat for that match up in one of the raised stands along with the rest of the Potter and Weasley families, as well as the Minister for Magic and several members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army.

“Now! As Madam Hooch steps forward – Rhodes and Gregory shake hands! The two of them are great friends off the pitch of course! And they retake their positions! And they’re up in the air! And we are GO! Gregory takes an early possession of the Quaffle, passes to Thompson – who passes to Spark – who aims, shoots – and nice save by Wright! What a save that was?!”

The early match was a quick rapid succession of attempts at either goal but it was clear that both Benj Wright and Kyle Ewart were playing exceptionally well that day. It was about an hour later when the first goal was scored by Sarah for Gryffindor which renewed all of the player’s energy in the game, as by that point they were beginning to just want the match to be over.

Up in the stands, the Potter’s and Weasley’s watched with baited breath as James ducked, dived and rolled, making a series of attempts at the goal. They were so focused on critiquing James’ play that they were almost too late in ducking as James and Alissa Thompson were forced to do a hairpin turn over their heads as they moved out of the way of a particularly nasty bludger.

Lily reached up and tugged on her mother’s sleeve, “This is so cool! Can I play Quidditch when I come to Hogwarts?”

Ginny and Harry shared a look over their daughter’s head as Albus chimed in with a similar thought.

“Of course you can – you both can…”

Fred snorted back a laugh from his position next to Dominique and whispered so that only she could hear, “Not likely – I’ve seen them play Quidditch…it’s like Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry want their kids to die…”

Dominique giggled loudly causing those around them to stare at her as she hid her grin behind her hand. Fred just chuckled and returned his gaze to the game. He felt bad that he had isolated himself from his family, in fact this was the first of James’ matches that he had actually attended and he found that he wasn’t too surprised by James’ game play. James had always been the better player out of the two of them. It wasn’t that Fred hadn’t interacted with his family at Hogwarts, sure he really wasn’t bothered about getting together and celebrating birthday, but he did love to pull a good prank on them. There was nothing better, in Fred’s eyes, that proving to his family that he could do something. That he was good at something. It was in his blood after all.

But then again, it was in James’ blood. 

And you never saw him pulling pranks anymore.

Not that you ever saw Fred. 

But that was beside the point.

He was proud of his bloodlines and the Uncle that had never had the opportunity to meet. He wasn’t going to live his life like James and pretend that that wasn’t who he was. He was proud of James but he seriously couldn’t understand how James was refusing to fall along with who he really was.

A prankster.

A joker.

Sure, he played Quidditch. Rather well actually. But what happened to not studying for tests, or being bothered about what people said? Fred found that he no longer recognised this version of James, he found himself happy that he didn’t have to know this version of James.

Dominique was still the same.

Just a little bit girl-ier.

He guessed that was more to do with her friendship with Kayla than anything else.

“And look at that! The Finborough Flick is quickly becoming Potter’s signature move! What a goal that was! Kyle really didn’t see that one coming! It’s 50 – 50 right now! Wait! Look at that! Finally! It looks like Holland and Spaton have spotted the snitch! They are on the tail of that little annoying winged ball! But wait! Nice Goal by James! Truly taking advantage of Kyle being distracted that time! But what a nice goal?! Man, Potter really is like his parents! And wait! That’s it! Holland catches the snitch! Gryffindor win here on Victory Day! With 210 points to Ravenclaw’s 50! That means that Ravenclaw cannot win the cup and finish out the Year on 380 points! So, going into the last match of the season, can Hufflepuff remain in the lead? Hufflepuff have 580, Gryffindor 470 and Slytherin 350! What a season it has been!”

By the time that the two teams made it up to the Great Hall, the rest of the students and the guests were all seated in the Great Hall. Unlike the rest of the students and guests who were still dressed in their formal dress robes, the two Quidditch teams had decided that they would wear one of the spare Quidditch jumpers over the shirt and trousers; blouses and skirts respectively instead of wearing their house ties and black robes.

When they entered the hall exploded into applause, almost deafening the players as they each took their seats. The players didn’t stick together, splitting up once more so that they could all sit with their families. James settled down into a seat in between his father and Teddy. Teddy quickly wrapped his arm around James shoulders ruffling his hair as he did so, before everyone settled down for the Victory Day Feast.

And if tomorrow every paper and magazine in the wizarding world led with a story about how James Sirius Potter was just like his parents, well he was too happy to have received that proud smile off his father to care.


	19. Teddy's Freakout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work xx

When Victoire made her way down the staircase and through the entrance hall towards the Hufflepuff common room she wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Dominique had sent out an SOS call via the witches glass and it had taken her a while to figure out exactly where Dominique’s voice was coming from. 

Not that she would ever admit that.

The witches glass was something that was kind of the love child between a two-way mirror and the fireplaces. You spoke the name of someone else who had a witches glass and you would be able to see and speak to them through the glass. Victoire had been fascinated by it when Serena had first given it to her, explaining that she and James had been experimenting with charms and transfiguration and that this what they had come up with.

She was a little sceptical though.

James and Serena were second years. 

Second Years! 

How on earth did they possess the ability to create something so magnificent in their second year?

So, she had kind of assumed that it wouldn’t work.

Not that she would ever tell them that.

So, when she heard Dominique’s voice calling her from some bizarre dark hidden corner of her trunk, she was embarrassed about how long it actually took her to figure just where the voice was coming from.

Okay, so she was actually still in shock that her baby cousin could help create something like this as just a little second year.

She was also (just a tiny bit) jealous.

But anyway, her embarrassment quickly turned into concern when Dominique told her pretty bluntly that Teddy had lost it. Which was why she hurried down the corridors towards the Hufflepuff Common room where Dominique was waiting for her. 

Victoire had not previously stepped foot into the Hufflepuff common room, for good reason as she wasn’t a Hufflepuff, but it seemed that today that would change.

“Dom!”

Dominique stood up from where she had been leaning against the wall waiting for her sister to arrive, “Vic!”

Victoire stopped in front of her siter a little breathlessly, “Is he okay? What’s going on? What’s wrong? Am I even allowed in the Hufflepuff common room?”

Dominique shrugged, “James is in there right now so, I’m guessing its alright? I don’t really know – no one seemed fussed but that could be because he’s James Sirius Potter – but anyway – don’t really know what happened to cause Teddy to lose it but he has calmed down a little while talking to James but Jamie asked for you so, here you are…”

“Jamie asked for me?”

Dominique nodded, “He said Teddy was too proud to – but anyway – come on…”

Victoire watched as Dominique tapped correct barrel to the tune of Helga Hufflepuff and smiled as the barrels moved out of the way revealing a slightly upwards sloping pathway. Victoire followed Dominique through the narrow entrance before she froze upon entering the Hufflepuff common room. 

It was nothing like she expected.

The room, despite being underground, was incredibly light and airy. She supposed that would have a lot to do with the colours. The honey coloured wood, the yellow and black overstuffed sofas, the abundance of plants. The room was circular just like the Ravenclaw common room, but Victoire hadn’t quite been expecting this. It made her curious about what Slytherin and Gryffindor common rooms were like. Sure, she had heard stories about the two from her Aunts, Uncles and various other relatives that were only considered relatives because they had been in the Order of the Phoenix or Dumbledore’s Army.

Dominique tugged on her arm and pulled her through the common room towards the small circular doorway into the boy’s dormitories. A couple of people called out greetings as they passed but Victoire was so overcome with the shock of this magnificent place that she only just manged to wave.

When Dominique slowly pushed open the doorway at the end of the corridor, Victoire took in the sights of the boy’s dorm room. The room housed 5 four poster single beds that were draped with sunflower yellow curtains. The trunks were positioned at the end of the beds and each bed had a bedside table either side of it which were littered with the bizarre belongings of the seventh year Hufflepuff boys.

On the bed at the left hand side sat James and Teddy, the former with his arms wrapped around the latter. It was a rather unusual position for the duo to be in as at the point in time James was a lot smaller than Teddy.

James offered Victoire a small smile when he spotted her and carefully began to extract himself from Teddy’s vice-like grip on his small frame. Eventually he pulled away and slowly walked towards Victoire, hugging her.

Victoire rested her head on James honey-brown haired head and breathed in the smell of his Apple shampoo, “Thanks Jamie…”

James shrugged, “You don’t need to thank me Vic…”

“Still…”

“Always…”

Victoire nodded as James left the dorm room, closing the door, with Dominique as Victoire moved towards her boyfriend. She settled down on the edge of the bed and tentatively reached out, not wanting to startle Teddy, and ran a hand across his cheek.

Teddy looked up, his eyes glistening with fresh tears as he took in his girlfriend, “H..h…hey…”

Victoire smiled softly, “Hey…”

“Where…where did Jamie go?”

“With Dom – he’s probably still in the common room. I could go and get him back if you want me to?”

Teddy shook his head, “No – no. Dom…Dom said he was studying. I don’t want to disrupt him…”

“You wouldn’t be…”

“He likes studying….”

“He likes you more…”

Teddy just hummed and allowed Victoire to pull him into a hug, his head pressed against her chest as he played absentmindedly with the charms on her bracelet. They stayed in silence for a while before Victoire looked down.

“What’s going on Teddy?”

Teddy closed his eyes and sighed, “What if I don’t get into the Academy?”

“But you will…”

“You don’t know that Vic. I don’t know that. What if I don’t get into the Academy? What if I disappoint everyone? When I told Gran that I was applying she said I was just like my mum! What if I disappoint them? My Parents? Harry and Ginny? What if I’m not good enough?”

Victoire pulled Teddy up so that he was sat facing her and she placed a hand underneath his chin, guiding him to look into her eyes.

“Listen to me. You are not a disappointment. Not now. Not ever. And definitely not to your Gran, your parents or Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry. I promise you that. You will get in to the Academy – I believe in you. And if for the first time in my life I happen to be wrong – you wouldn’t be a disappointment…”

Teddy let out a watery chuckle, “Thank you…”

“I haven’t done anything…”

“Vic…”

Victoire grinned and captured Teddy’s lips in a kiss.


	20. Slytherin V Gryffindor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read, commented and left kudos on this work x

“Welcome to the final Quidditch Match of the Year! Today we finally get to see Gryffindor Verses Slytherin in a battle for the 2015/2016 Quidditch Cup! With Hufflepuff currently in the lead, Gryffindor and Slytherin both need to score as many goals as possible in order to knock Hufflepuff from top spot. Hufflepuff have made a spectacular recovery from their performance last year, which ended with them in the bottom spot! This year they have almost double the amount of points that they achieved last year! What a turn around that is?! Now the current scores are 470 for Gryffindor and 350 for Slytherin which proves that Slytherin really do have their work cut out for them this match!”

The atmosphere in the stands was electrifying. The constant chatter, excited stomping, clapping and laughing meant that the vibrations from all of that noise could be heard right down in the changing rooms underneath the stands. 

It wasn’t exactly helping the nerves.

Xander was giving the Slytherin team a pep talk but he knew in his heart that it would take an awful lot to try and beat Hufflepuff from the position that they were now in. He was able to use the information that his brother, Gryffindor Seeker Spencer, was ill so that they could use that to their advantage. Xander knew that Margret catching the snitch would be their best chance of winning the match but he wasn’t convinced that that would be enough.

His chasers, he had grown to realise over the year, had grown tired and sloppy, especially in comparison to the chasers that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were currently fielding. He was reassured that he still had yet another year as Captain of the Slytherin team before he would graduate and was confident that in the next year he would be able to revitalise the team. And if that meant getting an entirely new team then so be it.

Sarah, in the Gryffindor changing rooms, was also not convinced that they could beat Hufflepuff. Sarah (and the rest of the team) knew that for this match the sole responsibility would fall onto herself, Serena and James to score as highly as they possibly could. Spencer had fallen sick the prior week and while he was well enough to play it was clear that his chances of catching the snitch were slim.

A pepper-up potion could only do so much.

The Hufflepuff team had surprised many that year in the way that they had bounced back from the catastrophic defeat of the previous year. It was clear that the addition of Dominique Weasley had completely revitalised the Hufflepuff Chasers and in turn completely turned around the luck of the Hufflepuff team.

Unlike Xander, Sarah was telling the Gryffindor’s that they just had to try and score as high as possible. That the match was less about winning the cup but stopping Slytherin from winning the cup instead. The Holland brothers may be related and cross the two teams, but Spencer and Nate would rather Hufflepuff win that Slytherin.

The Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry was a long lasting one and one that wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Much like the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw rivalry.

House rivalry was something that kept Hogwarts going.

“And here we go! Here come the Slytherin team! Captain and Keeper Xander Holland, followed by Beaters Jordan Harris and David Man, Chasers Kristie Harper, Donald Davis and Patrick George – Finally, Seeker Margret Phillips!! Slytherin are up against it this year, but it can’t be denied that Xander has assembled a very good team this year!”

Xander glanced up to the commentary box in surprise at the complement. He wasn’t exactly used to people complimenting him, his reputation at Hogwarts as a ‘Ladies man’ generally didn’t leave much room for the other guys to throw around compliments, even if it was Quidditch related.

“And here come the Gryffindor team! Firstly Keeper Benj Wright, Beaters Nate Holland and Wes Dawson – Followed by Chasers, Captain Sarah Rhodes, James Potter and Serena Taylor – Finally Seeker Spencer Holland! In her final year, Rhodes is surely looking towards a victory this year? Especially after Gryffindor’s triumphant win over Ravenclaw at the Victory Day match!”

As the two teams took their positions, preparing to kick off the ground, the commentator continued to prattle on about the prospects of the two teams, unknowingly securing the determination between the two teams to just beat each other intensified. 

“And so everyone is aware I will be calling the three Holland brothers by their first names for the match – much simpler for us all to understand! And we are - OFF! Here we go! The final match of the season and Slytherin take an early possession of the Quaffle! Harper to Davis back to Harper to George and – YES! Slytherin score! 10 points to Slytherin! And Gryffindor take possession! And Potter is really flying down the field at some pace! You can tell he has both Potter and Weasley blood in him! I’m sure he’s making them all proud! And he passes to Taylor to Rhodes to Taylor and YES! She scores! 10 points to Gryffindor!”

The match began to pick up pace, particularly for the Gryffindor’s. They had noticed immediately from Serena’s first goal that Xander was still struggling with the injury he had received in Slytherin’s previous match against Hufflepuff. The injury, as it was cause by an enchanted object, was still causing a few problems but they knew that by the time they all returned after the summer holidays, the injury would be healed and he would be a formidable opponent once again. Therefore, they were taking the opportunities that they were given.

Especially as Spencer looked like he was struggling to actually stay upright on his broom.

Sarah and Serena were doing most of the scoring during the match for which James was pretty thankful for. James often preferred to help set up goals rather than the glory of actually scoring, which made the partnership between the three of them work so well. They weren’t trying to outscore each other, which is something that the Ravenclaw team had been trying (and failing) to do that year.

“And Phillips dives for the Snitch! And it looks like Spencer has given up on this match! Gryffindor finish the match on 100 points after some beautiful goals by Rhodes, Taylor and Potter! And the match is won by Slytherin with 170 points due to the capture of the snitch! Wright proved a formidable opponent to Slytherin’s Chasers today! But neither score is enough to ensure victory! With just 10 points between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, Hufflepuff win the 2015/2016 Quidditch Cup with 580 points! Gryffindor are in second place with 570 points! With 520 points Slytherin are in third place! And in fourth place Ravenclaw with 380 points! What a year it has been and I look forward to seeing you all next year!”


	21. Exams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the delay in posting this chapter and that it is a little shorter than usual. I have so many assessments I'm drowning under papers about the supernatural in medieval england, america in the cold war and media in the inter-war years.
> 
> One more chapter left of this work and then onto Year Three.
> 
> Thank you so much for all of your support.

June was a month of intense strain and pressure for the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Most notably for the 5th and 7th Years. Many of the 5th years were struggling with the exams that they had thought they had been well prepared for but actually weren’t. It wasn’t a new discovery, every year many of the 5th years failed to recognise the importance of the Ordinary Wizarding Levels and by the time it came for them to actually sit the exams they struggled, finding questions on topics that they had been absolutely sure wouldn’t be asked.

But then again, that was a problem in the muggle world too.

The 7th years, on the other hand, were grappling with the hardest exams that they had yet to face as well as the crippling realisation that their time at Hogwarts was coming to an end. It was a frightening time.

For the first time in their lives barely any of them had any clue what they were going to do next. For the majority of students their acceptance onto placement schemes and training was reliant on the grades that they received in their Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, and no one had quite anticipated the strain that that could place on a person.  
That didn’t mean, that the select few students whose futures weren’t reliant on their results, were any less stressed. In seemed that the Professor’s had high hopes for all of their students, even the ones who they secretly had to think had no chance. It meant that they were constantly in the library, the Great Hall or even the common room, when the one thing that the students wanted was to study in piece, without feeling that they were being judged because they were a little too zealous in their cheering charm attempt.

The younger years at Hogwarts got off lightly in comparison. Their exams were run internally by the Professor’s themselves. However, that meant that unlike with Ministry employees, their Professors were more likely to show a little bias towards (or against) their students.

This was proving more and more apparent in the case of James, Nate, Serena, Dominique and Fred. While the exams in the lower years always took places just with the people in the same house, it was clear that certain Professors were either being far more lenient than they were with others (not that any of them were complaining about that) or they were being far stricter and harsher than they had ever been before. 

Neville – Professor Longbottom, was a Professor who none of them could ever quite gage what his reaction would be. He drifted from being full of praise and warmth towards James, Dominique and Fred to being overly harsh because he expected more because of who their parents were. James had argued that neither of his parents had been particularly great at Herbology but Professor Longbottom didn’t seem to care about that. Dominique had argued that sure her father had been rather average at the subject but both her parents were far more skilled in charms or transfiguration. Fred had argued that his parents barely scraped by with a Pass at OWL in Herbology, so he really didn’t understand why Professor Longbottom was still holding their parents in such high regard.

It was one thing to be loyal, but this was just getting ridiculous.

It did make them all question how he would treat Albus when he began at Hogwarts, as Albus was his Godson.

Another Professor that was arguably challenging James in ways that he had never challenged any other student, was Professor Grey, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. James had known since he had arrived at Hogwarts that Professor Grey was pushing James just because he was the Great Harry Potter’s son. But this year, when he had actually been eating three meals a day, he was able to focus on the extent to which Professor Grey was treating him differently that the other students.

It wasn’t that James didn’t like a challenge.

But this was totally and ridiculously insane.

It was only after both of the exams, the theory and the practical, that James was able to sit down with his friends and discuss how they thought it had gone. It was then that James realised that it wasn’t that he was necessarily bad at Defence Against the Dark Arts (although he definitely would never consider himself to be good), it was just that Professor Grey was asking him to perform magic that he wasn’t asking anyone else to perform. 

James seriously considered actually going and making a formal complaint to Headmaster Williams but in the end he decided it would just be too much hassle. It wasn’t like Headmaster Williams could actually really do anything about it. In fact, James suspected that Headmaster Williams would join Professor Grey on the ‘he-is-the-great-Harry-Potter’s-son-he-should-be-able-to-do-this-without-any-guidance’ train. So, James allowed himself to become content with the fact that he would never be a great Defence Against the Dark Arts wizard but at least he knew (hoped) that he wasn’t as bad as his results were leading others to believe.

At the end of the examination period, James glanced across the heads of his fellow students to see that Teddy’s hair had returned to its usual turquoise, causing James to sigh in relief. Teddy’s hair had been a dull muddy brown for the entirety of exam season and it just really didn’t suit him. Glancing back down to re-join the conversation with Nata and Serena, he grinned as he shovelled another mouthful of food into his mouth.

Serena glanced up, “You ready for the summer?”

James nodded, “Yeah – don’t have any plans really. You?”

Serena shrugged, “Victoire has roped me in to helping her with this muggle fashion competition she’s in but other than that – nothing…”

Nate glanced between his two friends, "Are either of you going to ask me what I'm doing this summer?"

“Nah…”

“Hey!”


End file.
